The officials of Jadavpur University will hold a meeting among themselves on Wednesday once the university reopens to find out who will run the administration of the institute in the wake of the removal of the officiating vice-chancellor by the governor, said a senior official.
The university also has plans to seek legal opinion to clear the air on two contradictory orders on whether the vice-chancellor could continue or not, the official of the university said.
“We are dealing with two contradictory orders about the continuance of the VC.
One order on Saturday evening issued by the chancellor says our VC has been removed. Another order issued late on Saturday by the higher education department says VC must continue. Amid this we are confused about whether we have a VC and how we could run the administration,” said the official on Monday.
“Therefore, it was imperative to hold a meeting among ourselves,” he said.
At Jadavpur University, as in any other state-aided university, officials like the registrar, pro-VC, deans and other officials work following the directions of the VC.
On days when the VC leaves the station, he assigns the responsibility to the pro-VC.
“But as the chancellor has removed the VC, we don’t know who we should take instructions from. It is true that the state government has asked the VC to continue. But the removal has cast an impact. Or else why would the VC delegate power to the pro-VC for awarding the degree certificates to the students during Sunday’s convocation,” said a JU official.
When Metro contacted Buddhadeb Sau seeking to know whether he would continue as the VC, he said: “I cannot say anything on this. The pro-VC was asked to award the degree as per the decision of the court.”
The minutes of the resolution adopted at the court meeting on Sunday say: “Resolved further that in view of the prevailing crisis arising from two contradictory orders (referring to the chancellor’s order and the state government’s order), the Court resolves to request the Vice-Chancellor to delegate the power to Prof. Amitava Datta, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Jadavpur University to confer the degrees and continue the convocation process”.
Manojit Manhal, a JU professor who was present at the court meeting said there is no bar in Sau continuing as the VC.
He said the state government in its order mentioned: “There cannot be any unilateral decision that can be taken by any single authority (the chancellor).”