All major administrative posts, including a permanent vice-chancellor (VC) and a permanent registrar, are lying vacant at the Gour Banga University in Malda, which caters for more than 36,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Added to it, more than 40 per cent of posts of teachers at the varsity are also vacant.

Pabitra Chatterjee, who was appointed as the VC in May 2024 by the governor, was removed by Raj Bhavan on August 26.

Biswajit Das, who serves as the registrar in the additional charge, will complete his term on September 22.

Now that the GBU does not have a VC, the registrar’s post will face the same fate if a replacement is not found.

“Apart from the permanent appointees for these two key chairs, the posts of the deputy registrar, the assistant registrar, the audit officer, the university engineer (civil), the security officer, the deputy librarian, the assistant librarian, the assistant controller of examinations, the secretaries of the postgraduate and undergraduate faculty councils are also vacant,” a source at the university said.

A senior faculty member said the GBU had a strength of 150 sanctioned permanent teaching posts, out of which 62 are still vacant.

Out of the sanctioned 41 non-teaching posts, 25 are empty now.

“The alarming deficiencies of teachers and key officials have been affecting the studies and also the discipline of the GBU. There has been no convocation here in the past seven years. There were controversies regarding the examination results, also at different times. Altogether, the situation is quite disheartening,” said Shaktipada Patra, a former member of the GBU’s executive council.

Radhagobinda Ghosh, a national award-winning teacher and researcher, who was also conferred with the Banga Ratna, expressed his frustration.

“The university was founded in 2008 to promote higher education in three districts of Bengal. But considering the present state of affairs, it seems that the university is passing through prolonged adversities. While the administrative and academic lapses are prominent, the students are affected,” Ghosh said.

The data obtained from the varsity revealed that a considerable number of seats in both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels remained vacant, an indication that students are not interested in studying in GBU or in the colleges affiliated to it.

In 2024-2025, 35,593 out of 62,520 seats in the 26 undergraduate colleges affiliated to the GBU were filled, while in the postgraduate level, 1,177 out of 1,754 seats were filled in 23 PG departments of the varsity.

“Such a large number of vacancies clearly suggests the decline in the interest of students in the colleges and the postgraduate departments of the GBU. We apprehend there will be similar vacant seats in this academic year,” said an academic based
in Malda.