The state government on Tuesday told Calcutta High Court that vice-chancellors are free to decide whether to hold student elections in universities and affiliated colleges.

However, most full-term VCs of state-aided universities appear reluctant to proceed without a formal directive, with several telling this newspaper that they are awaiting instructions from the higher education department.

Senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing the state, informed a division bench that the government has left the decision to the VCs. This marked a shift from the government’s earlier stand, when it opposed holding campus elections under officiating or interim VCs appointed by the governor without its consultation.

One of the 17 full-term VCs in Bengal said campus polls require a central directive under which universities can set their own dates. “But there has to be a central directive that will be binding for all,” the VC said.

An official from the education department echoed this, stating that a centralised
order on student polls will be issued only after the ongoing process of appointing full-term VCs — overseen by a Supreme Court-appointed committee — is complete. The committee interviewed prospective VCs between August 19 and 21.

The official also said the department is working on introducing provisions such as a reservation for girl students in campus unions. “Once full-term VC appointments are over and final regulations are drafted, the task of conducting student polls will be resumed,” the official said.

On January 25, Metro reported that the department had proposed reserving 55 per cent of student union seats for girls. The proposal has been sent to the law department for vetting. If approved, amendments will be required in the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Composition, Function and Procedure for Election of Students’ Council) Rules, 2017.

The 2017 rules had replaced student unions with students’ councils and mandated that elections be held biannually.

Campus polls have largely been suspended since 2013, with only one being held — in January 2020 — in four unitary universities: Jadavpur, Presidency, Rabindra Bharati, and Diamond Harbour Women’s University.