Supreme Court Mandates Regular Appointments for West Bengal VCs

The Supreme Court has mandated that only regular vice-chancellors be appointed for all 36 state-aided universities in West Bengal, amid disagreements between Governor C V Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The court constituted a search-cum-selection committee led by former Chief Justice U U Lalit to oversee the appointments, clarifying there should be no interim arrangements.

The Supreme Court has ruled that only regular vice-chancellors should be appointed to head all 36 state-aided universities in West Bengal, in a bid to resolve ongoing disagreements between Governor C V Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

On July 8, the court formed a search-cum-selection committee headed by former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit to manage the appointments. In a subsequent order on July 29, the court clarified there should be no interim arrangements during the process.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan specified that regular appointments must be made for all universities. The bench also approved suggestions regarding the retirement age for vice-chancellors: 65 years for three universities and 70 years for the others. The Justice Lalit-led panel was given sweeping powers to short-list candidates and can co-opt experts at the chairperson's discretion.

(With inputs from agencies.)