New Delhi, August 03 (The Street Press India) – In the ongoing conflict between Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court has ruled that only regular vice-chancellors should be appointed to lead all 36 state-aided universities in West Bengal.
To resolve the standoff over the appointment of VCs, the Supreme Court formed a search-cum-selection committee on July 8, headed by former Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit, to oversee the appointments.
In an order passed on July 29, the Supreme Court clarified that there should be no interim arrangements for the appointment of vice-chancellors.
“To be more specific, it is clarified that there shall be appointment of regular vice-chancellors in all the 36 state-aided universities,” stated a bench of Justices Surya Kant and K.V. Viswanathan.
The bench endorsed the suggestion from the parties involved that the retirement age for vice-chancellors at Aliah University, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, and West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences should be 65 years.
“For the remaining universities, the age of retirement of the vice-chancellor shall be 70 years,” the bench stated.
The court granted the Justice Lalit-led panel wide-ranging powers to shortlist eligible candidates for the appointment of vice-chancellors.
“In addition, the chairperson will be free to co-opt any expert even from outside these lists at his discretion,” the bench said.
The top court had previously authorized the chairperson of the panel to form separate or joint search-cum-selection committees for one or more universities, considering the nature of the subjects and disciplines taught at these institutions.
