WEST BENGAL GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNOR APPROVE 8 VICE-CHANCELLOR APPOINTMENTS; REMAINING POSTS REFERRED TO JUSTICE LALIT PANEL:

In the ongoing dispute concerning the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (VCs) to universities in West Bengal, a significant development took place as the State government and the Governor reached consensus on six additional candidates, taking the total number of agreed appointments to eight. The development was placed before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi during a recent hearing.

The Court was informed of the consensus by Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing on behalf of the West Bengal government, and Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Governor. Both counsels apprised the Bench that discussions between the Chief Minister and the Governor had resulted in agreement on appointments for eight universities.

The universities for which consensus was reached include Sanskrit College & University, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Harichand Guruchand University, Raiganj University, Diamond Harbour Women’s University, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University, Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya University, and West Bengal State University. In light of this agreement, the Supreme Court directed the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, to formally forward the names of the approved candidates to the Governor, who acts as the Chancellor of the universities, so that the official notifications of appointment could be issued without delay.

However, consensus could not be achieved in respect of three universities, North Bengal University, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, and Netaji Subhash Open University. Given the divergent views held by the State government and the Governor on the recommended candidates for these institutions, the Court decided that the matter should be remitted to the Search-cum-Selection Committee for further consideration. This Committee is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice U.U. Lalit.

The Court noted that both parties agreed to refer the unresolved cases back to the Committee. It accordingly requested the Committee to examine all materials, records, and submissions that may be provided by the concerned parties and to make an earnest effort to arrive at a decision within a period of four weeks. The Court clarified that the Committee would have the discretion either to recommend a fresh panel of candidates from among those already considered or to initiate an entirely new selection process if deemed necessary.

The larger controversy relates to the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in 36 State-run universities across West Bengal. Persistent disagreements between the Chief Minister and the Governor had earlier resulted in a prolonged stalemate, disrupting the administrative functioning of several institutions. To break this deadlock, the Supreme Court had intervened and facilitated the constitution of the Search-cum-Selection Committee under the chairmanship of Justice U.U. Lalit.

Through phased resolutions following the Court’s intervention, appointments had already been finalized for 25 universities. Despite this progress, appointments in 11 universities remained unresolved until the present development. With the latest consensus on eight additional universities, the scope of the dispute has now narrowed further. The remaining impasse concerning the three universities is now expected to be resolved through the independent assessment of Justice Lalit’s Committee, bringing the State closer to completing the long-pending process of VC appointments across all its universities.