Bengal Edu Min welcomes SC’s decision on VC appointments via court-appointed search committee

Kolkata, July 8 (IANS) West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict on the appointment of Vice Chancellors for different state-run universities in West Bengal.

SC said that the search committee will be headed by the former Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lalit which will be constituted in two weeks. The said search committee will recommend three names to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, who will select one from the three names, who will select one and recommend the same to the Chancellor of the university concerned, who is traditionally the Governor of the state.

Welcoming the order of the Supreme Court, the state Education Minister said that the apex court order has upheld the contention of the state government regarding the constitutionality of appointing vice-chancellors by the Governor instead of the democratically elected head of the state.

“In the order, the apex court has instructed the search-cum- selection committee, to recommend a panel of three names alphabetically for each university to the Chief Minister, who will then recommend the panel according to her preference to the chancellor recording her opinion, if any, against any name. The Chancellor will then appoint the vice-chancellor. This is again the victory for democracy,” said Basu.

The issue of vice-chancellors’ appointments for state universities had been a prolonged issue of tension between the Raj Bhavan and the state government. The state government had been constantly opposing the move by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for the appointment of interim vice-chancellors for many state universities.

On the other hand, the state government had been accused of appointing vice-chancellors, breaching selection norms.

–IANS

src/dan