WB Governor to remain head of varsities, Prez rejects amendment bills

President Droupadi Murmu has rejected an amendment bill passed by the West Bengal assembly proposing the Chief Minister’s name as the Chancellor in state universities of West Bengal in place of the Governor. As per information received from the Governor’s office in Kolkata, Governor Dr C V Bose reserved the bill for the President’s consideration on 20th April of 2024. Another Amendment bill related to Aliah University, which also proposed to replace the Governor by the Chief Minister as the Amir-e-Jamia or the Chancellor, was rejected by the President.

In April 2024, Bose had reserved 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, for the consideration of the President of India. The West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022. All the Bills, passed in June that year, sought to replace the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of the state-aided universities. Jagdeep Dhankhar was the governor of West Bengal at that time.

The tussle over administration of state-run universities between the state government and the Governor prompted the Mamata Banerjee administration to bring the legislation. The state government had argued that the change would facilitate faster administrative decision-making and more effective governance of universities. After examination at the central level, the President withheld assent to the Bills. As a result, the principal Acts governing state-aided universities, which provide that "the Governor shall, by virtue of his office, be the Chancellor of the University," will continue to remain in force, the official said.