Nabanna nod to make Edu min 'visitor' of pvt varsities instead of Guv

Kolkata: The state government is mulling the removal of Governor from the post of 'visitor' of the private universities in the state and appoint the state Education minister in his place.

The state is working upon a change in legislation in consultation with the Law department to give effect to this.

Nabanna has already given its nod to proceed in this matter. The move comes barely two days after the state Cabinet approved the appointment of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as chancellor of state universities instead of the Governor.

The state government will table a Bill in this regard in the next Assembly session.

The matter of replacing Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar from the 'visitor' post and appointing Education minister Bratya Basu had also come up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The state is also likely to table a Bill on this in the state Assembly. A number of vice-chancellors of the private universities had not attended a meeting convened by the Governor at Raj Bhavan in December last year over which the latter had expressed his anguish and claimed that stance of the private varsities' vice-chancellors was indicative of crystallization of unionism.

As a 'visitor' of the private universities, the Governor can enquire about the functioning of the private varsities and can also give the call on holding their convocation.

Educationist Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri claimed that the state government has stood by the side of the private universities on more than one occasion, be it allocation of

land or forging PPP partnership among others.

"The present education minister is a creative writer, a dramatist and a knowledgeable person so if he becomes the visitor of the private varsities, it should be welcomed," he added. Educationist Pabitra Sarkar, however, termed the move as an attempt of politicisation of education. "This will not augur well for education system," Sarkar said.