Professor Bhaskar Gupta Appointed As New Vice Chancellor Of Jadavpur University
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose appointed senior professor Bhaskar Gupta as the new Vice Chancellor of the prestigious state-run Jadavpur University. He is a professor in the Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering at the university. Prof Gupta’s name was recommended by the state government with six other universities” VCs name lists. The post has been lying vacant since April 2023 and the governor who is also the chancellor of the university appointed him as VC of Jadavpur University.
The state education minister Bratya Basu welcomed the appointment and wrote on X, “Good sense has prevailed”. As the higher education department with the approval of the West Bengal Chief Minister, he remained hopeful for the appointment of VCs in other universities soon. “Hopefully the other universities will also get VCs appointed by the Chancellor by the recommendations of the state government,” Basu shared on X.
Mentioning that the education minister has had stifling relations with the governor over the alleged unilateral act of appointing interim VCs in 31 universities. Basu has also accused Governor Ananada Bose in the past of appointing and removing interim VCs despite the matter of appointment being pending before the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court ordered the appointment of VCs of 6 state universities by the governor based on the recommendation received by the state government. The top court ordered the need for reconciliation between the governor and the CM in the interest of educational institutions and the future careers of lakhs of students. However, the Calcutta High Court supported the legality of the orders issued by the governor appointing interim VCs in 11 state-run universities last year.
The Jadavpur University Teacher’s Association (JUTA) welcomed the appointment of the new VC.
Notably, this is not the first such case of a tussle between the state government and the governor over the appointment of the VCs in the state universities. A similar situation has also been highlighted in Kerala when the state government intervened in the appointment of VCs by the governor where the Supreme Court asked the state government not to interfere with the appointment.
