Patna, Oct. 2: President Pranab Mukherjee is learnt to have agreed to grace the convocation of Lalit Narayan Mithila University at Darbhanga tomorrow in response to the chief minister Nitish Kumar’s wish.
The President’s decision once again brought to the fore the protracted rift between the Raj Bhavan and the state government because only the LNMU vice-chancellor, S.P. Singh, was appointed in consultation with the chief minister.
Governor Devanand Konwar unilaterally appointed five vice-chancellors and six pro-vice-chancellors in eight different universities in August 2011. The rift between the Raj Bhavan and the state government landed in the court with the latter even questioning the manner in which Konwar had made appointments of the VCs and pro-VCs.
A division bench headed by the chief justice has reserved its order on the appointment of the VCs and pro-VCs in the six universities of the state.
The Raj Bhavan witnessed Nitish holding several rounds of long and one-to-one parleys with Konwar to break the ice. But the hatchet between government and the Raj Bhavan is yet be buried with the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, and education minister P.K. Shahi frequently issuing statements against the governor, who is also the chancellor of the state’s universities.
Academic observers see Nitish scoring brownie points over Konwar with the President agreeing to grace the convocation of the LNMU — the only university having the vice-chancellor of his choice.
The Raj Bhavan sources refused to comment on the President visiting the LNMU. But a senior officer of the education department said: “The governor should undergo self introspection in the context of the President gracing the convocation of the university, which has its VC appointed in accordance with the due process of the law.”
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