INDIA: Act to make vice-chancellors accountable

Vice-chancellors are no longer above question, as they were previously. The new government in West Bengal is amending the University Act to insert a clause that can be invoked to remove a vice-chancellor, reports The Times of India.

The question came to the fore after a change of guard in West Bengal when the new government promised to cleanse the dalatantra [party rule] prevailing in education institutions. It was argued that vice-chancellors were mostly political appointees and at times did not have the administrative acumen to run a university. But the government hit a stumbling block in a bid to remove some of them because it didn't have the statutory sanction to do so.

A high-powered committee set up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, comprising eminent academics and others, has suggested an amendment of the vice-chancellor appointment clause. The suggestion, once accepted, will make heads roll, according to a higher education department official.
Full report on The Times of India site

Comment:
Political affiliation was the main consideration in West Bengal for selection of vice chancellors. As a result mostly comrades and not good professors were appointed. The situation must change if West Bengal is to regain its past glory in education.

Professor Bimal Chandra Mal