CM Mamata Banerjee To Replace Governor As Chancellor Of State-Run Universities: Bengal Cabinet Clears Proposal

The West Bengal cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to replace Governor Jagdeep Dhankar and appoint Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the Chancellor of all state-run universities. The Cabinet also approved a proposal to remove the Governor as a Visitor at private universities with the State Education minister replacing him.

The state-run universities in West Bengal come under various government departments such as health, agriculture, animal husbandry and minority affairs.

The proposals have to be passed as Bills in the State Assembly where the ruling Trinamool Congress is in majority and also receive assent of the Governor before it can come into effect. On May 26, the State cabinet had passed a resolution to remove Dhankar, and make Mamata the chancellor in his place.

The move comes in the backdrop of Governor Jadgeep Dhankhar's clash with the state government over appointments of vice-chancellors across universities. According to reports, Dhankar had earlier alleged that the state government had appointed several Vice-Chancellors without his consent.

In a related development, last month Tamil Nadu had passed a bill empowering the state government to take over the Governor's power of appointing vice-chancellors to universities. The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022, and Chennai University Act, 1923 (Chennai University (Amendment) Act, 2022) were passed with the expression "chancellor" being replaced with "government" on 25 April, 2022. This move was also seen as a political struggle between governor and MK Stalin-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu.