P Chidambaram

Patna, Aug. 11: Accusing Bihar Governor Devanand Konwar of “fiddling” with the statutes and “forging” the official minutes, the ruling JD(U) has approached the Union home minister demanding Konwar’s replacement at Raj Bhavan.

The party’s national general secretary and MP, Shivanand Tiwary met P. Chidambaram yesterday submitting him a letter, which specifically says: “Konwar is unworthy to hold the august post of the governor and as such he should be replaced forthwith.”

The party’s move has, apparently, taken the battle between the governor-cum-chancellor of the state’s universities and the Nitish Kumar government over the issue of the appointment of six vice-chancellors (VC) and five pro-VCs at the point of no return.

The chief minister has already denied the governor’s reported claim that he consulted the former in appointing the six VCs and five pro-VCs. “There is a process of consultation for appointing the VCs and pro-VCs well defined by the law and explained by the high court which was never followed,” Nitish said on Monday.

The JD(U) sources confirmed that Konwar had met Chidambaram on August 8, “briefing the Union home minister about the appointments of the VCs and pro-VCs in the state”.

“Chidambaram revealed that Konwar had met him and talked about universities-related issues,” a source said.

Shivanand, however, told The Telegraph: “Chidambaram gave a patient hearing to our complaints against Konwar and assured us to get them examined.”

The governor was still in New Delhi. Raj Bhavan sources said he would return to Patna tonight.

The JD(U)’s missive to Chidambaram read: “The chancellor who is also the governor of the state has chosen to disregard the statutes governing the universities. Not only does he make the appointments unilaterally, he interpolates the records to show consultation when, in fact, no consultation has ever taken place.”

Shivanand told Chidambaram that Konwar appointed six VCs and five pro-VCs despite the Patna High Court making “disparaging” remarks against him for fiddling with the official minutes in appointing the VCs of the Veer Kunwar Singh University (VKSU) and Magadh University (MU) earlier.

The chancellor had, so far, not got any reprieve from the high court despite challenging the single bench’s order quashing the appointment of S.P. Sinha and Arvind Kumar as VCs of VKSU and MU respectively. The Raj Bhavan’s petition in this connection was still lying for consideration before a division bench.

Tiwary also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 2, submitting the latter a copy of the high court’s order against Konwar.

Shivanand’s letter to Chidambaram had dealt at length on how Konwar had been “subverting” the Nitish Kumar government’s “painstaking efforts” to improve the state of higher education, which had suffered enormously in the past in Bihar.

The party’s oust-Konwar campaign stands preceded by the government demanding the chancellor to “reconsider” the appointment of the six VCs and four pro-VCs. The Patna College, principal, Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh has refused to join as the pro-VC of the Patna University.