West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set for a new confrontation with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
On Monday, her cabinet approved a proposal to make the chief minister chancellor of all state-run universities, replacing the governor. The cabinet also approved a proposal to remove the governor as visitor of 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.
When the Mamata government had announced plans last month to make the chief minister chancellor, the proposal was interpreted as a direct challenge to Raj Bhavan and being an attempt to enforce more political control over universities.
The proposal is expected to trigger a political furore with the BJP when placed in the state assembly. The proposal will be introduced as a bill in the coming assembly session, starting on June 10. Moreover, the governor can still stall the proposal.
“The bill would go to the governor. He (the governor) would have three options. Either he would sign the bill, or he can send it to the Union government to know whether it goes with the spirit of the Constitution (as UGC funds the universities) or he will not sign and the bill will lapse,” Amal Mukhopadhyay, academician and constitutional expert, had told THE WEEK last month.
