President’s no to Bills on replacing WB guv with CM as chancellor; Bose to remain head of varsities

Kolkata, Dec 15 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu has withheld assent to three amendment Bills passed by the West Bengal Assembly, seeking to replace the governor of the state with the chief minister as chancellor of state-run universities, an official said on Monday.

As a result, Governor CV Ananda Bose will continue to discharge his duties as the Chancellor as before, in line with the existing legal provisions, the official said.

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 Bills sought to replace the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of the state-aided universities. The Hon'ble President of India has withheld assent from the above Bills," the Lok Bhavan official said.

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. PTI SCH NN