Kolkata: West Bengal bills to replace the governor with the chief minister as university chancellor are rejected by President Murmu

Kolkata: President Droupadi Murmu denied three amendment bills voted by the West Bengal Assembly on Monday, which would have appointed the chief minister as chancellor of state-run universities instead of the governor, according to an official.

According to the official, Governor CV Ananda Bose shall thus carry out his responsibilities as Chancellor in accordance with the current legal rules.

The Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 were all set aside by Bose in April 2024 for the Indian President’s review. The 2022 West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill.

All of the bills that were enacted in June of that year aimed to make the chief minister the chancellor of the state-aided universities in lieu of the governor.

At the time, West Bengal’s governor was Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The goal of the Bills was to have the chief minister serve as the chancellor of the state-aided institutions in lieu of the governor. According to the Lok Bhavan official, the Hon. President of India has not given his assent to the aforementioned bills.

The act was introduced by the Mamata Banerjee administration as a result of the conflict between the state government and the governor over the management of state-run institutions.

The state administration had claimed that the modification would speed up administrative decision-making and improve university governance.

Following central review, the President declined to sign the bills. According to the official, this means that the major Acts regulating state-aided institutions, which provide that “the Governor shall, by virtue of his office, be the Chancellor of the University,” would stay in effect.