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Shah vetoes varsity red writ

Shah vetoes varsity red writ

Author: Sunando Sarkar
Publication: The Telegra
Date: April 24, 2002

It's a snub from a Governor who seems to have a mind of his own. And one that the Alimuddin Street-controlled higher education thinktank has never faced before.

Two distinguished academicians not known for their CPM links - IIT-Kharagpur director Amitabha Ghosh and IIM-Calcutta director Amitava Bose - have been picked as the Chancellor's nominees to the decision-making body of Jadavpur University, making it a never-before occurrence since the party consolidated its control over educational bodies.

Not that the party machinery did not try. The Alimuddin Street thought-control process had picked two men known for their strong CPM allegiance - Prabir Raychaudhuri and Basudeb Barman, as the Chancellor's nominees, said officials. Raychaudhuri is a CPM state committee member and a Chancellor's nominee for the past three terms. Barman became vice-chancellor of Kalyani University at a time when it had become impossible for anyone to hold a senior university position without strong CPM links (refer to Subhankar Chakraborty, Bharati Mukherjee and Surabhi Banerjee).

The Calcutta University (CU) Senate and Syndicate, too, will make it clear how the party's writ is law, vis-à-vis 'Chancellor's nominees'. Some names that crop up are P.N. Ray who, after a stint as CU pro vice-chancellor , is now a member of the State Planning Board and in the Senate as a "banking profession representative"; Sukumari Bhattacharji, Oriental studies scholar but linked to 'progressive and secular' movements spearheaded by CPM fronts; and Shyamapada Pal, one of the seniormost leaders of the CPM-controlled West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association.

But Governor Shah, say higher education department officials, has opted to strike a different path in JU. "He has shown (yet again) that he has a mind of his own," one of them said, referring to Shah's often no-nonsense views, vis-à-vis educational institutions, and to his CU convocation address last year.

"A Governor picking every nominee to a university body on merit alone is unthinkable now," he added, explaining that Shah could have put his foot down as JU was one of the few educational institutions here to have got acclaim from all over India.

Shah's office, however, did not want to get embroiled in any controversy. Shah himself was not available for comment and joint secretary to the Governor K.D. Gautama said "nothing much" should be read into the nominations of Bose and Ghosh.

"The files came from the higher education department, like any other year, and the choices were those of the Chancellor, after consultation with senior officials," he said, adding that there had been no deviation from procedure.
 


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