Supreme Court for regular appointment of vice-chancellors in 36 state-aided universities in West Bengal

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, August 3

Amid a stand-off between Governor CV Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) in West Bengal, the Supreme Court has said that only regular VCs shall be appointed to head all the 36 state-aided universities in the state.

A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant gave wide-ranging powers to the Justice Lalit-led panel to shortlist eligible candidates for appointment as VCs. “In addition, the Chairperson will be free to co-opt any expert even from outside these lists at his discretion,” it said.

The Bench – which had on July 8 constituted a search-cum-selection committee headed by former CJI Lalit to oversee the appointments—clarified on July 29 that there should not be any interim arrangement with regard to VCs’ appointment.

“To be more specific, it is clarified that there shall be appointment of regular vice-chancellors in all the 36 state-aided universities,” said the Bench – which also included Justice KV Viswanathan.

Earlier, it had authorised the chairperson of the panel to constitute separate or joint search-cum-selection committees for one or more universities, keeping in view the nature of subjects/disciplines in which education is being imparted in such universities.

It accepted the suggestion made by the parties that the age of retirement of VCs shall be 70 years, except the VCs of Aliah University, West Bengal University of Health Sciences and West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences who shall retire at 65 years.