Bengal Assembly Passes Bill To Appoint CM As Chancellor Of State-Run Universities

The government will now have to send the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for his assent.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

The West Bengal Assembly on Monday passed a bill to replace Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as chancellor of state-run universities, PTI reported. The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was passed after 182 members voted in favour of the legislation and 40 against it in the 294-member Assembly.

While introducing the bill, state education minister Bratya Basu said there was "nothing wrong" in chief minister taking over as the chancellor.

"Why can't the chief minister be the chancellor of state universities if the Prime Minister is the chancellor of a central university- Visva Bharati? You can go through the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission. The governor, who is the present chancellor, has violated protocols on various occasions," PTI quoted Basu as saying.

The development comes a week after the West Bengal Cabinet approved the proposal. However, the bill needs to get consent from the Governor before becoming an act.

Earlier, Bratya Basu had said that in case the Governor refuses to clear the Bill, the government would pass an ordinance to bring the legislation into force.

BJP alleged that appointing the chief minister as chancellor would lead to direct "political interference" in the state's higher education system.

"The state government wants to control everything. The decision to appoint the CM as chancellor of universities is being taken to facilitate direct interference of the ruling party in the state's education system," BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said in the Assembly.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had earlier called the move diversionary tactics by the TMC government to shift attention from the ongoing controversies in the state, including the CBI probe into the recruitment irregularities in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

The move comes in the backdrop of Governor Jadgeep Dhankhar's clash with the state government over appointments of vice-chancellors across universities. Dhankhar had earlier alleged that vice-chancellors of 24 universities were "appointed illegally without the chancellor's approval".

Last year, the vice-chancellors of the private universities skipped a meeting called by the Governor in Raj Bhavan, adding fuel to the fire.