Swamped with school teacher recruitment scams why Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee wants to take over control of state universities

This Monday, the Trinamool Congress of West Bengal passed a bill in the assembly to replace the governor as chancellor of the state universities with the chief minister. The Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, will become chancellor of all state universities after the governor signs the bill. However, the most interesting part of this decision is the timing. The Mamata Banerjee government is now swamped with the alleged School Service Commission recruitment and the primary teacher recruitment scams.

A significant section of the party insiders believes that in such a situation taking control over the universities became crucial for the government. The state has one education minister who looks after the appointments from primary to the universities. The former education minister and the officials are already under the CBI scanner for the alleged scams, therefore, taking over the control of the universities from the governor was a kind of safeguard.

What are the alleged teacher recruitment scams?

The Calcutta High Court in March ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers in the government-run schools through the state-level selection test (SLST). Similarly, the West Bengal government in 2016 issued a notification to the school service commission or SSC to recruit over 13,000 employees for the government-run or government-aided schools.

There were allegations that the commission has illegally appointed many people who were either not on the merit list or whose rank was much lower than other who did not get jobs. The Calcutta High Court has also ordered a CBI probe in this alleged scam.

This month the Calcutta High Court also ordered a CBI probe in the alleged West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam case. The allegation is that around 269 primary school teachers were appointed to government-sponsored and government-aided schools of Bengal who did not qualify for the teacher's eligibility test (TET) in 2014.

All these cases have put massive pressure on the TMC government. Partha Chatterjee who was the education minister of West Bengal when these alleged scams took place is currently the industry minister and also the Mahasachiv of the TMC.

Similarly, Paresh Adhikari, a senior TMC leader and minister of state of the education department is also under the CBI scanner. The Calcutta High Court observed that Adhikari’s daughter got a job as a school teacher despite having a much lower rank in the SSC examination. The HC has not ordered the termination of her job. Similarly, the officials of the SSC, and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) have come under the scanner. The court ordered the termination of WBBSE president Manik Bhattacharya who is a TMC MLA.

Mamata Banerjee and her credibility are under the scanner as many top leaders of the party were allegedly involved in all these alleged scams.

What is the politics behind TMC government taking control over universities?

The governor of Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankar, has been harshly critical of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the TMC since his appointment. Meanwhile, the Cabinet of West Bengal on May 26 unanimously passed this resolution to replace the governor as the chancellor of the state universities with the CM.

This is not the first time the Bengal ruling dispensation has considered such changes. Around a year back, the same issue came up, but the government did not move forward with the decision. The conflict between the governor and the state government in the education sector has been the most serious in Bengal in recent years.

The current situation has hampered the administrative work of these universities. While the governor tries to overturn everything the TMC government decides, the university is dependent on the state education department for funding. The officials of the state universities have expressed their relief at this decision. They believe that having one command centre will ease their problems.

This decision is a direct challenge to the central government and the governor by the TMC. If the governor does not give the nod, then the Mamata Banerjee government can bring an ordinance. After all, when the ruling party has a full majority in the legislature, it is difficult to stop a bill like this. However, the governor can force a lapse of the bill by indefinitely sitting on it.

Why is this decision too risky for Mamata Banerjee?

The political observers of Bengal see that the decision of the TMC government to replace the governor as the chancellor of the state universities with the CM has many aspects amid the growing corruption allegations against the government.

A section of political analysts believes that Mamata Banerjee's government cannot afford to keep Jagdeep Dhankar as the chancellor of these universities because it might become too risky as several allegations of corruption are coming against the government.

However, the other section of analysts believes that this decision may become counter-productive for Mamata Banerjee. Until now, there have been no direct allegations against the chief minister herself. But if she becomes the chancellor of the universities, and then if any other corruption allegations come forward, the TMC will be under tremendous pressure from every sector.

Why scams and Governor-state tussle is putting state education under threat

According to the Punchhi Commission, the governor must not be vested with powers that are not enumerated in the Constitution, as this would lead to conflict between the governor and the state government.

The West Bengal government removed the governor's authority to appoint vice-chancellors to state universities in 2019. As part of the same process, a new draft of the West Bengal State Universities (Terms and Conditions of Service of Vice-Chancellors and Manner and Procedure of Official Communications) rules was drafted to curtail the powers of the Chancellor. The government got the power to call senate meetings at a state-run university and would no longer require the Governor's approval.

Many states are facing similar conflicts between the governors and the government. The reappointment of Kannur University's vice-chancellor sparked controversy recently in Kerala as it went against the wishes of the governor, the Chancellor of state universities. Two bills were passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly seeking to transfer the Governor's role in appointing vice-chancellors to the state government.

Meanwhile, Bengal will be the first state to have the governor's role as chancellor of state-run universities replaced entirely by the chief minister. Following the implementation of this law in the state, the way for new conflicts between state governments and governors will be wide open.

Finally, the learning process may be hampered as a result of state-level conflicts. Political control of any educational institution contradicts the essence of education. As a result, this decision will neither benefit nor improve the current system but will instead create a flawed precedent. Today, the alleged scams and tussles have put a toll on the education system of Bengal. If the government does not rectify their mistakes today then the students of the state will suffer.