Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is exploring options to initiate legal action against governor CV Ananda Bose, whom the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused of pressuring state universities to skip a meeting called by the education minister two days back, reports said.
The long-running tussle between the state government and the Raj Bhavan has escalated in the past few weeks after Bose, in his capacity as the chancellor of all 31 state-run universities, recently appointed interim vice-chancellors for 14 varsities, including the prestigious Presidency University, without consulting the government. The positions were lying vacant since May 31 when the tenure of the former V-Cs ended.
The chief minister has severely criticised the move, calling it a bid to interfere with the running of state-administered universities. She even threatened to block funds for universities if they followed the governor’s orders. “If you [governor] interfere in the affairs of any university or, if any university takes orders from you, I will create an economic blockade… Let me see how you pay the salaries of the university staff…” she had said at an event.
The latest standoff came after registrars of several universities skipped a meeting called by state’s education minister Bratya Basu at his office to discuss allocation of funds and financial matters.
“We have found some documents which suggest that some of the acting V-Cs asked the registrars of those universities not to attend the meeting,” a senior officer from the higher education department said. “The government is consulting lawyers to explore possible legal action against the Raj Bhavan.”