Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee’s appointment as vice-chancellor of Calcutta University was revoked on Tuesday by the Calcutta High Court, which ruled that the West Bengal government lacked the right to do so under the terms of the university’s Act. In ruling on a PIL filed by a university alumnus contesting Banerjee’s reappointment, the court determined that the government directive dated August 27, 2021, issued by a special secretary, cannot be upheld.
The vice chancellor cannot be appointed or reappointed by the state under Section 8 of the Calcutta University Act or by using the supplemental Section 60 of the Act, according to a division bench that included Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj. Attorneys for the state government and Banerjee’s oral requests for a stay of the order’s implementation were denied.
Banerjee’s stint as vice-chancellor of Calcutta University ended on August 27, 2021, after being appointed on August 28, 2017, for four years. The Chancellor extended her term by three months with the condition that the selection process would start and the vice-chancellor would be chosen in accordance with the proper procedures. After then, Banerjee was reappointed as vice chancellor of Calcutta University with effect from August 28, 2021, for a period of four years, in a notification dated August 27, 2021, issued under the special secretary of the West Bengal government’s Higher Education Department.
The petitioner’s attorney argued that because the Chancellor has the authority to appoint and reappoint, the state government lacks the authority to reappoint the vice-chancellor. S N Mookherjee, the advocate general, objected to the prayer, arguing that reappointment and appointment have different legal standings. According to him, the state serves as the reappointment authority. Even if the Chancellor were to serve in that capacity, the state would provide its recommendation once it had been satisfied. He claimed that the state was left with no choice but to pass the order reappointing Banerjee because the Chancellor was not acting on his advice. The university’s ex-officio Chancellor at the time was Jagdeep Dhankhar.
