The state higher education department has asked Jadavpur University not to hold Friday's scheduled meeting of the executive council on the ground that the university does not have a “regular (full-term) vice-chancellor”, JU officials said.
In a letter addressed to the university’s registrar, Snehamanju Basu, the department said holding any meeting of JU's highest decision-making body in the absence of a regular VC would “violate” rules.
The department had prevented the university from holding a meeting of the council on November 5 by sending an identical communication the previous day.
It could not be ascertained till late on Thursday whether the executive council will meet on Friday.
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to the officiating VC, Buddhadeb Sau, went unanswered.
The university had written to the education department before the Diwali vacation that it would held a meeting of the council on November 24 to finalise details of the annual convocation, which is scheduled for December 24.
Asked about JU’s decision to hold the meeting despite the government bar, education minister Bratya Basu had told The Telegraph on Monday: “Let’s wait for a legal opinion on the matter.”
A JU official said the university would run into an administrative deadlock if the scheduled meeting of the executive council could not be held.
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, ex-officio chancellor of JU and all other state-aided universities, had handpicked Sau to perform the duties of a VC on August 20, allegedly without consulting the education department.
"Selecting a full-term vice-chancellor through a search committee is not going to happen soon. The issue is being debated in the Supreme Court, where the state government has challenged the governor’s decision to appoint officiating VCs unilaterally,” the JU official said.
“Till the Supreme Court gives a final verdict, we have to continue with an officiating VC. Now, if the decision-making bodies of the university cannot meet because of the absence of a full-term VC, there is bound to be an administrative deadlock."
The agenda of the executive council meeting includes discussing and finalising “the issue of 66th annual convocation, special convocation, approval of the revised budget for the financial year 2023-2024”.
A JU official said the agenda had been shared with the education department.
