West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu struck a bombshell on Friday when he announced that, for better coordination, the State administration is considering abolishing the title of “Governor” and replacing it with “Chief Minister” as the “Chancellor” of all Government-run Universities. Basu accused Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of retaining papers and notes, which is causing severe problems in the Education Ministry’s functioning, during a press conference.
“The whole point is to elevate the Chief Minister to the position of Chancellor of State-run Universities in order to improve the Ministry’s efficiency.” In this context, lawyers are being consulted. We are having difficulties because the governor is engaging in illegal activity and storing our files in cold storage. “Because of the Governor’s unwillingness to cooperate, we shall be forced to do the same here in West Bengal. I’ll research the Constitution and, if required, seek legal advice. We’d like to ask the attorneys if we may temporarily appoint our Chief Minister to the position of Chancellor of the State Universities,” he continued.
The Governor and the State Government have been at odds since he was sworn in as the state’s constitutional leader. The situation recently became tense after Dhankhar called a meeting of the vice-chancellors of the state’s private universities. This resulted in a new conflict situation. The Governor had invited them to a meeting on December 20, but it was rescheduled on December 23 when representatives from private colleges stated their inability to attend due to the Covid-19/Omicron issue. “Sadly, the chancellors and vice-chancellors of 11 private institutions have not arrived for the meeting with the visitor who is also the governor of the state,” Dhankhar claimed.
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Dhankhar claimed that the state administration was appointing vice-chancellors without consulting him and that he was being forced to pay close attention to the situation. He responded, “I direct all of these appointments to be reassessed.” “The UGC should get engaged in a serious probe into private universities since they break a lot of norms,” Dhankhar added.
