West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose appointed senior Professor Bhaskar Gupta as the new Vice Chancellor of the prestigious state-run Jadavpur University (JU).
Gupta’s name was recommended by the state government, which had submitted the list of vice-chancellors of six state universities, including JU. JU remains leaderless since April 2023 after the extended tenure of the permanent vice-chancellors ends.
The Governor, who is also the Chancellor of state-run universities, on Monday appointed Gupta as the Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University.
West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu welcomed his appointment, saying, “A good understanding has been reached.” He said, “Professor Bhaskar Gupta has been appointed as VC of Jadavpur University by the Honorable Chancellor. His name was recommended as VC of the same University by the Department of Higher Education with the approval of the Honorable Chief Minister.” “It is expected that other universities will also get VCs appointed by the Chancellor as per the recommendations of the state government,” the minister said in a post on Twitter.
Basu said, “I would like to congratulate the Honorable Chancellor for the appointment of the JU VC. I also congratulate Professor Bhaskar Gupta on being appointed as VC of JU.
The Education Minister had been locked in a heated argument with the Raj Bhavan in the last few months over the Governor’s alleged unilateral move to appoint interim vice-chancellors in 31 universities. Recently, he had also accused the Governor of appointing and removing interim Vice-Chancellors despite the matter of appointment of Vice-Chancellors being pending in the Supreme Court.
After the Supreme Court in its remarks advocated the appointment of vice-chancellors of six state universities by the Governor based on the list of names recommended by the state government, the Chancellor met the Attorney General and hinted at resolving the impasse. Jadavpur University Teachers Association welcomed the appointment of the new VC.
