"Media optics", Bengal guv on cabinet nod for CM as chancellor of varsities

Siliguri, May 29 (PTI) West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar Sunday said that issues were being created over his position and responsibilities as the chancellor of universities to divert attention from the pressing problems in the state.

He said that the matter was raised in December, 2021, too.

"This is a ploy to generate media optics to divert attention (from pressing problems).

"I am not concerned about what the government does unless the papers come to me. As and when papers come to me, I will take a call according to constitutional provisions," he told reporters here, before leaving for Darjeeling, when asked about his reaction to the attempt to replace him as the ex-officio chancellor of state-run universities.

The Bengal cabinet has recently given its nod to a proposal that seeks to replace the governor with chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities.

The proposal is set to get tabled in the Assembly in the form of a bill.

Dhankhar noted that "a bill becomes an act only when the governor signs on it. An ordinance is also issued when the governor gives consent".

Maintaining that the recruitment process for jobs in educational institutions of the state have been "sullied and tainted", he said that it is a "disgrace".

"We cannot allow our temples of education and career of our students to suffer," he said.

A Calcutta High Court-appointed committee, headed by retired Justice R K Bag, has found illegalities in hundreds of appointments to group C and D posts of government-sponsored and -aided schools.

Dhankhar and the TMC government have been at loggerheads over several issues since he took charge as governor in July, 2019, with his role as chancellor of state universities and visitor of the private ones often being panned by the ruling dispensation.

Authorities of universities had in the past skipped meeting convened by Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan, citing various reasons, including the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor claimed that vice-chancellors of state universities and chancellors of private universities have joined hands and formed a union.

"I want to send a message to them, all is not well," he said, adding, "I have constituted a committee in my capacity as governor to investigate into their affairs."