Anguished over allegations made by Governor C. V. Ananda Bose, a group of academicians have sent a legal notice to the Chancellor for civil and criminal defamation.
The Governor who is also the Chancellor of all State universities in a video message at Raj Bhawan earlier this month had said, “You know why I could not appoint those nominated by the state government as interim vice-chancellors. The truth is, some were corrupt; some stand accused of harassing a female student, some were playing politics”.
The remarks by the Chancellor infuriated the 24 former Vice Chancellors who were unceremoniously removed in May 2023, after the Governor did not accept the State’s government request to extend the tenure of these academicians as Vice Chancellors.
Six legal notices
On Thursday, more than half a dozen academicians held a press conference announcing that they have individually sent legal notices to the Chancellor. “The Governor enjoys immunity by law, but the Chancellor does not. We have sent these notices to the Chancellor and we are determined to pursue it,” Professor Omprakash Mishra, former Vice Chancellor of North Bengal University said. Prof Mishra, who teaches International Relations at Jadavpur University, said that there may be differences between Raj Bhawan and the State government over the appointment of interim Vice Chancellors but the Governor should not be dragging academicians into the discourse.
The former Vice Chancellors said they were under the impression that since they did not send weekly reports to Raj Bhawan because existing laws forbade them from doing so, they were not given extensions.
Professor Ashutosh Ghosh, former Vice Chancellor of University of Calcutta and Professor Dipak Kumar Kar, former Vice Chancellor Sidho Kanho Birsa University said that they were “devastated and shattered’ by the allegations made by the Chancellor and added that if they did not protest then many would believe that there was some basis to these allegations.”
Damages sought
The academicians in their legal notice have individually sought damages of Rs 50 lakh along with a public apology from the Chancellor. “That, although, the harm that has been done cannot be compensated in monetary terms but to deter you in future from committing such crimes and making such statements having a bearing on the reputation of my client, the damages to my client are quantified at Rupees fifty lakhs ( ₹50,00,000) only along with an unconditional apology on the T.V. channels you made false allegations against my client, within 15 days of receipt of this notice,” the legal notice sent by Prof Debnarayan Bandyopadhyay said.
Prof Bandyopadhyay who was former Vice Chancellor of Bankura University also questioned recent announcements by the Governor about appointment of teachers through 25 selection committees by Vice Chancellors and said the Governor was not aware of the appointment process of teachers in universities. The academician said that across the universities there is a prescribed procedure for faculty appointment and Vice Chancellors do not have much role in the process.
A few days ago, State Education Minister Bratya Basu reacted to remarks by the Governor on the former Vice Chancellors and said that he was trying to defame well known academicians of the State. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also targeted the Governor stating that she will stop salaries to the Universities if the Governor continues to appoint interim Vice Chancellors. None of the 31 state run Universities in the State has full time Vice Chancellors and since June, the Governor has appointed interim Vice Chancellors without consultation with the State government.
