Abhijit Chakrabarti feels “justice has been done” with the governor’s decision to appoint him Jadavpur University’s vice-chancellor but many on the campus wonder how he would run the institution without the support of a large section of students and teachers.

Chakrabarti, who had been interim head of JU since November 2013, was on Sunday appointed full-term VC (for four years).

“Over the past three weeks I had been subjected to a malicious campaign that held me responsible for letting loose police on students. Today I feel justice has been done as the chancellor has reposed faith in me and ignored the false campaign,” Chakrabarti said on Monday.

JU emeritus professor of English Sukanta Chaudhuri, however, wondered how the VC would work given the “trust deficit” between him and the rest. “Almost the entire university body, including students, teachers, alumni and the emeritus professors, is opposed to him. There is a trust deficit.”

Chaudhuri was part of a five-member delegation that had gone to meet governor Keshari Nath Tripathi last week, pleading for the appointment of “an able leader” as the university’s full-term VC.

Another emeritus professor, Supriya Chaudhuri, posted “Bad news” on her Facebook page. She did not specify whether the post was linked to Chakrabarti’s appointment but successive comments on the page suggested so.

Government sources said the governor chose Chakrabarti because he was thought to be the fittest to restore discipline on the campus. “The trouble at Jadavpur University is being fanned by outsiders. Let the university not be politicised,” Tripathi had said on September 25.

The state government, the sources said, had been able to convince Tripathi that “a strong administrator like Chakrabarti was needed to deal with the influence of outsiders on the campus”.

Both Chakrabarti and education minister Partha Chatterjee had alleged the presence of Maoists in the September 16 gherao of the interim VC and other members of JU’s executive council. Chakrabarti has been facing the flak for alleged police assault on the protesters on the campus.

A class boycott has been on since September 17. It’s uncertain whether classes would resume when the university reopens after Puja vacation on October 13.

On Monday, Sukanta Chaudhuri said the class boycott should end. Asked if he would appeal to the students to withdraw their protest and restore normality on the campus, Chaudhuri said: “The class boycott should end because it is bad for students. But I won’t appeal to the students to withdraw their protest. Why should I dictate terms to them?”

The rift between the teachers and the VC came out in the open when the CPM-backed Jadavpur University Teachers Association (Juta) seconded the students’ demand that Chakrabarti be removed for calling the police to the campus.

The teachers who had walked with students in protest rallies said on Monday that they would continue their “non-cooperation” with Chakrabarti. “Our demands have not changed,” said Juta secretary Nilanjana Gupta.

Students have threatened to carry on their protest, too. “We are disappointed because we had told the chancellor that normality would return only if he (Chakrabarti) was removed,” said Suvabrata Dutta, a postgraduate engineering student.

BJP stand

The BJP Bengal unit does not support the governor’s decision to appoint Chakrabarti as full-term VC. “There is no denying that the governor is from our party but we don’t agree with his decision,” state BJP chief Rahul Sinha said.