July 11: The government today announced the names of two of the three members of the search committee that will shortlist three candidates for the post of vice-chancellor of Calcutta University.

"In the new committee, Burdwan University vice-chancellor Nimai Saha will be the state government's nominee. Dipak Mandal, the VC of Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, will be the chancellor's nominee," education minister Partha Chatterjee said.

The panel will start functioning once the university names its nominee.

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, chancellor of the university, had yesterday approved the government's proposal to appoint Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee as interim VC.

Chakravarti Banerjee, a professor of political science, will take over on July 17. "She will retain the post of pro VC (finance) even while discharging her responsibilities as interim VC," the minister said.

"I will sincerely discharge all the responsibilities that will be assigned to me," the pro VC said.

The tenure of current interim VC Asutosh Ghosh ends on July 14 (Friday).

The government had in December 2016 set up a search committee, which prepared a shortlist on March 8.

But questions were raised about the validity of the list as the tenure of interim registrar Soma Bandyopadhyay, who had called the meeting as acting secretary of the panel, had ended on March 7.

The members of the committee were Santanu Bhattacharya, director of the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science; Abhirup Sarkar, professor at the Indian Statistical Institute; and Ved Prakash, then chairman of UGC.