The dispute between the Central and West Bengal governments is showing no end. The matter may also escalate due to the President not approving the bill sent by Bengal. President Draupadi Murmu has refused to give his approval to the 3 amendment bills passed by the West Bengal Assembly. Through these bills, it was proposed to make the Chief Minister the Chancellor of the state-run universities in place of the State Governor.
Regarding the situation after not getting the approval from President Draupadi Murmu, the official said that in the absence of approval and as per the existing legal provisions, Governor CV Anand Bose will continue to function as Chancellor as before. The state government has a total of 31 such universities which include Calcutta University and Jadavpur University.
CM got importance instead of Governor
Last year in April 2024, Governor Bose had sent the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to the President for consideration.
Under the West Bengal University Law (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Chief Minister of West Bengal was made the Chancellor of 31 government universities of the state. Additionally, the Chief Minister of the state (instead of the Governor) would be the head of these universities, and would preside over the meetings of university bodies (such as the Court or Senate).
The bill was passed in Bengal Assembly in 2022
The West Bengal Assembly passed all these bills on 13 June 2022. In these bills, there was a proposal to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of the universities aided by the state government. The bill was introduced in the House in the year 2022, when Jagdeep Dhankhar was the Governor of West Bengal.
A Lok Bhavan official said, “In these bills, there was a proposal to give the responsibility of the Chancellor of state-aided universities to the Chief Minister instead of the Governor. But these bills were not approved by the President.”
Due to the ongoing tussle between the state government and the Governor over the administration of the universities being run by the state, the Mamata Banerjee administration had to bring this law in the House. Behind this, Mamata government said that this important change will speed up administrative decision-making and the governance of universities will be more effective.
After investigation, the center rejected all three bills
After the bill was sent to the Centre, it was scrutinized at the central level, in which President Murmu refused to give his approval to the bills. The official said that due to the new decision, the main Act governing state-aided universities, which provides that “the Governor, by virtue of his office, shall be the Chancellor of the University,” will remain in force.
After scrutiny at the central level, the President refused to assent to the bills. The official said that as a result, the main acts governing state-aided universities, which provide that “the Governor, by virtue of his office, shall be the Chancellor of the University,” will remain in force.
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