Full Judgment Text
REPORTABLE
2024 INSC 469
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
SPECIAL LEAVE TO APPEAL (CIVIL) NO. 17403 OF 2023
The State of West Bengal ….Petitioner(s)
versus
Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh and Ors. ….Respondent(s)
ORDER
SURYA KANT, J.
There are approximately [ 35 ] stateaided Universities in the State
of West Bengal. The appointment of their ViceChancellors is the
hallmark of this controversy. It seems that the PetitionerState of West
Bengal appointed 24 ViceChancellors in the year 2022. These
appointments, along with the West Bengal University Laws
(Amendment) Act, 2012 and the West Bengal Laws (Amendment) Act,
2014, were challenged before the High Court in a Public Interest
Signature Not Verified
Litigation. The High Court vide judgement dated 14.03.2023 held that
Digitally signed by
satish kumar yadav
Date: 2024.07.08
17:15:18 IST
Reason:
the Search Committee constituted by the State Government for the
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selection of those 24 ViceChancellors did not have any Member
nominated by the Chairman of the University Grants Commission
(UGC) and since the said Search Committee was in violation of the
UGC’s Act, the appointment of 24 ViceChancellors was unsustainable
in law. The Division Bench judgment was upheld by this Court.
It further seems that the State of West Bengal thereafter made
2.
certain amendments in the State Universities Act in tune with the
UGC’s Regulations, 2018. However, instead of resorting to the
statutorily prescribed procedure for appointment of regular Vice
Chancellors, the Ministerincharge of the Department of Higher
Education, Government of West Bengal, sent a proposal on
18.05.2023 to the Chancellor for extending the tenure of 27 Vice
Chancellors whose tenure was about to expire. The Chancellor, on the
other hand, appointed ‘Interim ViceChancellors’ and as many as 28
professors were given such assignments. The appointments of these
interim/adhoc/caretaker ViceChancellors came to be challenged by
Respondent No. 1 through a Public Interest Litigation, which the High
Court not only dismissed vide impugned judgment dated 28062023
but also conferred perks and other monetary benefits on its own to
these acting ViceChancellors, a benefit which the Chancellor himself
had not granted to them.
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3. The Division Bench order, to the extent of granting pay,
allowance, perks or facilities admissible to a regular ViceChancellor,
was consequently stayed by this Court vide order dated 06.10.2023.
4. The rift between the State Government, on the one hand, and the
Governor of West Bengal, who happens to be the Chancellor of subject
Universities, on the other, is the root cause of stalemate in the
appointment of regular ViceChancellors. To elaborate further, there is
no consensus between the two sets of authorities in the matter of
constitution and composition of Search Committees for shortlisting
the candidates for appointment as Vice Chancellors.
5. Since we, prima facie , disapproved the Chancellor's action of
appointing interim ViceChancellors without consulting the State
Government, all such further appointments were stayed vide order
dated 06.10.2023.
The chaos has further deepened as neither there are regular
6.
ViceChancellors nor interim or adhoc ViceChancellors are permitted
to be appointed. Regardless thereto, the Chancellor has assigned the
powers of ViceChancellors to various persons — not necessarily all of
them are academicians. The State of West Bengal has strongly
protested against such a recourse. We, however, do not deem it
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necessary to dwell on that issue at this stage for the reasons stated
hereinafter:
(I) On 15092023, the learned Senior Counsel for the State of
West Bengal, as well as learned counsel for the Chancellor, very
fairly suggested that, pending multiple controversies, the Search
Committee may be constituted by this Court. In order to explore
that possibility, this Court on 27.09.2023 directed the learned
senior counsel/counsel for the parties to submit, in a tabulated
chart, the details of the Universities, the description of their
subjects/disciplines, existing provisions for constitution of Search
Committees, as well as the new provision which the State of West
Bengal had proposed in the Bill awaiting assent of the Governor.
Counsel for the intervenors were also granted liberty to suggest the
names of renowned scientists, technocrats, administrators,
educationists, jurists or any other eminent person for the purpose
of nomination to the Search Committee.
(II) On 06.10.2023, the parties sought time to replace certain
names earlier suggested by them for nomination to the Search
Committees.
(III) On 20.11.2023, learned senior counsel for the parties
agreed to submit a consolidated list of the names proposed by the
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State Government/Chief Minister/Chancellor/UGC and other
prescribed authorities for the purpose of constituting Search
Committees.
(IV) On 01.12.2023, learned Attorney General for India entered
appearance on behalf of the Chancellor. He assured that the names
to be suggested by the Chancellor for the constitution of Search
Committees will be shared with counsels for the
petitioner/intervenors. Besides granting time in this regard, we
also impressed upon the learned Attorney General to use his good
offices to explore an amicable mode of appointment of the Vice
Chancellors, in conformity with the Statutes governing such
appointments.
(V) It seems that pursuant to the initiative taken by learned
Attorney General, some meetings were held on 04.12.2023,
13.03.2024 and 14.03.2024. These meetings, however, did not
yield the desired results.
(VI) On 16.04.2024, learned Attorney General, however, very
fairly stated that six posts of the ViceChancellors will be filled up
out of the list recommended by the State Government. Eventually,
on 17.05.2024, we were informed that the State Government had
sent a list of 15 names for appointment of ViceChancellors in 15
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Universities. The learned Chancellor found 07 of them unsuitable
and apparently had no objection against the remaining 08 persons.
We, therefore, directed that those 08 names be appointed within 10
days. In order to instill confidence on both sides, it was observed
that the Chief Minister of the State may send names of some more
eminent persons to fill up the 07 vacancies of ViceChancellors.
(VII) We have no reason to doubt that the Chief Minister must
have sent a few more names of eminent personalities and the
Chancellor hopefully has accorded his approval for their
appointment. As regard to the leftout Universities, we agreed on
17.05.2024, on the joint request of learned senior counsel for the
parties, that a SearchcumSelection Committee shall be
constituted by this Court before the next date of hearing.
7. This is how we are tasked to constitute the Searchcum
Selection Committees.
8. Learned senior counsel/counsel for the parties are ad idem that
the appointment of ViceChancellors in all the Universities are
regulated by different Statutes. The academic qualification, teaching
experience, and some other distinct features also vary from university
to university, depending upon the speciality of the subjects being
taught thereby. The (i) names of the University Acts; (ii) existing
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provision for appointment of ViceChancellors; (iii) amended provision
for appointment of ViceChancellor under the ordinance of 2023; and
(iv) subjects/disciplines which are being taught in a University, have
been consequently provided to us in a tabulated form. On a cursory
look, we find that every statute, broadly speaking, provides that the
ViceChancellor shall be appointed by the Chancellor on the
recommendations of a SearchcumSelection Committee, who shall
hold the office upto the age of 65 years and should be a person
possessing the highest level of competence, integrity, morals and
institutional commitment. The ViceChancellor must also be a
distinguished academician with 10 years of experience as a Professor
in a University or a wellreputed research/academician organization.
9. On an illustrative basis, we deem it appropriate in this regard to
reproduce Section 8 of the Calcutta University Act, 1979, which reads
as follows:
“8. (1) The ViceChancellor shall be appointed by the
Chancellor on the unanimous recommendation of the
Senate. If the Senate fails to make any such
recommendation, the ViceChancellor shall be appointed
by the Chancellor in consultation with the Minister from
a panel of three persons to be elected by the Senate in
accordance with the system of proportional
representation by means of the single transferable vote.
(2) (a) The ViceChancellor shall hold office for a period
of four years or till he attains the age of 65 years,
whichever is earlier, and shall, subject to the provisions
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of this section, be eligible for reappointment for a
period not exceeding four years.
(b) The Chancellor may, notwithstanding the expiration
of the term of the office of the ViceChancellor or his
attaining the age of 65 years, allow him to continue in
office till a successor assumes office, provided that he
shall not continue as such for any period exceeding one
year.
(3) The ViceChancellor shall be a wholetime officer of
the University and shall be paid from the University
Fund a salary of three thousand and five hundred
rupees per month and such allowances as the
Chancellor may decide.
(4) The ViceChancellor may resign his office by writing
under his hand addressed to the Chancellor.
(5) If—
(a) the ViceChancellor is, by reason of leave, illness or
other cause, temporarily unable to exercise the powers
and perform the duties of his office, or
(b) a vacancy occurs in the office of the ViceChancellor
by reason of death, resignation or expiry of the term of
his office, removal or otherwise,
then, during the period of such temporary inability or
pending the appointment of a ViceChancellor, as the
case may be, the ProVice Chancellor for Academic
Affairs shall exercise the powers and perform the duties
of the ViceChancellor.
(6) The vacancy in the office of the ViceChancellor
occurring by reason of death, resignation or expiry of
the term of his office, removal or otherwise shall be
filled up by appointment of a ViceChancellor in
accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) within
a period of six months from the date of occurrence of the
.”
vacancy
10. We may hasten to add at this stage that notwithstanding some
variance in the provisions of the Acts under which ViceChancellors
are to be appointed, especially with regard to composition of the
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SearchcumSelection Committee, we deem it appropriate to invoke
our powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete
justice in this matter and pass this common order for constitution of
SearchcumSelection Committee for all the subject Universities.
Hence, we resolve to constitute SearchcumSelection Committee(s) of
the same composition so as to avoid any confusion, irrespective of the
fact that the relevant provision of the Statute of the concerned
University may contain slight variations. Our endeavour is to infuse
transparency, independence, fairness, and impartiality so as to ensure
that the persons possessing the highest level of competence and
integrity and are capable of leading the University by example are
shortlisted. In this regard, we have made an effort to shortlist experts
who are eminent scientists, educationists, jurists, subject experts, and
administrators in their own right. We have further attempted to set
out that nominees of the Chancellor, Chief Minister, UGC, State
Government, the Higher Education Department of West Bengal the
intervenors etc. are adequately represented.
While shortlisting the experts for composition of the Searchcm
11.
Selection Committee, we have been further guided by the nature of
subjects and disciplines in which education is being imparted in
different Universities. We find that, broadly, all the Universities can be
categorized as follows:
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i) Universities with faculties predominantly in arts and science:
a) West Bengal State University
b) Sidho Kanhi Birsha University
c) Burdwan University
d) Jadavpur University
e) Gour Banga University
f) Bankura University
g) Presidency University
h) Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University
i) Sadhu Ram Chand Murmu University of Jhargram
j) Alipurduar University
k) Raiganj University
l) Diamond Harbour Women’s University
m)Murshidabad University
n) Mahatma Gandhi University
o) Dakshin Dinajpur University
ii) Universities with faculties predominantly in commerce and science:
a) North Bengal University
b) Kalyani University
iii) Universities with faculties predominantly in arts:
a) Kanyashree University
b) Rabindra Bharati University
c) Harichand Guruchand University
d) Hindi University
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e) Biswa Bangla Biswabidyalaya
f) Darjeeling Hills University
iv) Universities with faculties predominantly in science:
a) Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad University of Technology
b) Aliah University
c) West Bengal University of Health Sciences
d) West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences
e) Kazi Nazrul University
f) Rani Rashmoni Green University
v) Other miscellaneous and multidisciplinary universities:
a) Calcutta University
b) Sanskrit College and University
c) Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University
d) Vidyasagar University
e) Netaji Subhas Open University
f) Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya
g) Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya
12. We hereby appoint Hon’ble Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit,
Former Chief Justice of India as Chairperson of the Searchcum
Selection Committees for all the Universities.
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13. Following is the list of eminent educationists, scientists, jurists,
subject experts and administrators etc. who have been shortlisted for
the purpose of empanelment on SearchcumSelection Committee(s):
(i) Arts & Humanities
a) Prof. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Ex. V.C., Rabindra
Bharti University. Address: 56A, BT Road, Kolkata 700500.
b) Prof. Siuli Sarkar, Principal, Lady Brabourne College.
c) Prof. Sibaji Pratim Basu, Professor, Vidyasagar University.
Address: Department of Political Science with Rural
Administration, Vidyasagar University, Midanpore – 721102.
d)
Professor Ujjwal K Singh, Department of Political Science,
University of Delhi. Email: ujjwalksingh@gmail.com ; Phone
no: 8800788862.
(ii) History
a) Prof. Tapati Guha Thakurta, Prof. in Social Sciences, Centre
for Studies in Social Sciences. Address: C D 157, Salt Lake,
Sector I, Kolkata – 700064.
b) Prof. Amit De, Ashutosh Chair Professor of History, Calcutta
University.
c) Prof. Sajal Nag, Retd. Professor, Assam University.
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d) Prof. Rajat Kanta Roy, Former VC, Visva Bharati.
e)
Prof. Raghuvendra Tanwar, Chairman, Indian Council for
Historical Research. Email: chairman@ichr.ac.in ; Phone no:
9896219909.
(iii) Sociology & Anthropology
a) Prof. Ramanuj Ganguly, Professor, WBSU. Address: Flat: A
106, Mall Enclave, 13, KB Sarani, Kolkata – 700080.
b) Prof. Tanka Bahadur Subba, Ex VC, Sikkim Central
University.
c) Prof. Ravinder Kaur, Professor of Sociology, IIT Delhi, email:
ravinder.iitd@gmail.com .
(iv) Economics
a) Prof. Abhirup Sarkar, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute,
Calcutta. Address: 10 Mandeville Gardens, Flat 802, Kolkata –
700019.
b) Prof. Saibal Kar, RBI Chair Professor of Economics, Centre for
Studies in Social Sciences. Address: R1, BP Township,
Kolkata – 700094.
c) Prof. (Dr.) Ram Singh, Director, Delhi School of Economics,
University of Delhi, Delhi. Email: ramsingh@econdse.org ;
Phone number: 9971863030.
(v) Law
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a) Prof. Rathin Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Law, Department of
Law, NBU. Address: Department of Law, University of North
Bengal, Siliguri – 734013.
b) Justice G. Raghuram, former Judge, Andhra Pradesh High
Court and former Director, National Judicial Academy.
(vi) English
a) Prof. Debnarayan Bandyopadhyay, Ex VC Bankura
University. Address: 20 Chandranath Chatterjee Street,
Kolkata 700025.
b) Prof. Anindyo Roy, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department
of English, Colby College, Waterville. Email: aroy@colby.edu.
c) Prof. (Dr.) Meena T. Pillai – Dean, Faculty of Arts and
Professor, Institute of English and Director, Centre for
Cultural Studies of University of Kerala.
(vii) Hindi
a) Prof. T.V. Kattimani, VC, Central Tribal University, Andhra
Pradesh.
b) Dr. Chander Trikha, Director, Urdu Cell, Sahitya Academy,
Haryana, R/o of House No.345, Sector 22A, Chandigarh (Mob.
No.09417004423).
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(viii) Bengali
a) Prof. Mir Rejaul Karim, Professor, Aliah University. Address:
Department of Bengali, Aliah University, Park Circus
Campus, 17 Gorachand Road, Kolkata700014
b) Prof. Tapadhir Bhattacharya, former VC, Assam University.
(ix) Chemistry
a) Prof. Abhijit Chakrabarti, Retired Professor, Saha Institute of
Nuclear Physics. Email: abhijit1960@gmail.com.
b) Prof. Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, VC, Sister Nibedita
University.
c) Prof. Uday Maitra, FNA Deprtment of Organic Chemistry,
Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore. Email:
maitra@iisc.ac.in.
d) Prof. Ramesh Chandra, VC, Maharaja Surajmal Brij
University, Bharatpur. Email: acbrdu@hotmail.com.
e) Prof. Siva Umapathy, Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of
Sciences, Bangalore. Email: umapathy@iisc.ac.in
(x) Physics
a) Swami Atmapriayanand, VC, Ramakrishna Mission
Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute.
b) Prof. Amitava Mukhapadhyay, Professor, NBU.
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c) Prof. Amitabha Roy Chaudhuri, Deptt of Physics, CU.
d) Prof. A.N. Basu, former VC, JU and distinguished Professor of
Physics.
(xi) Biology
a) Prof. Subhra Chakraborty, Director, Genomics Research
Centre, Delhi.
b) Prof. B.A. Chopade, VC – AKS University, Satna, Former VC,
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University,
Aurangabad.
c) Prof. (Dr.) Navin Sheth – former VC, Gujarat Technological
University.
d)
Prof. Emeritus. Prof. V. S. Chauhan, Ph.D., D.Phil. (Oxon),
FNA, FNASc, TWAS, Former UGC Chairman. Email:
viranderschauhan@gmail.com . Phone No.: 9811292058.
(xii) Botany and Zoology
a) Prof. Subhas Chandra Roy, Professor, NBU
b) Prof. Dipak Kumar Kar, ex VC, SKB University. Address: 409
Lake Gardens, Kolkata 700045; Phone No.: 7044577044
(xiii) Mathematics
a) Prof. Kallol Paul, Professor, Jadavpur University. Address:
188 Raja SC Mallik Road, Kolkata 700032.
b) Prof. Suparna De Sarkar, Senior Professor, NBU.
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c)
Prof. Tarun Das, Department of Mathematics, University of
Delhi. Email: tarukd@gmail.com ; Phone No.: 9911854923.
(xiv) Computer Science
a) Prof. Amlan Chakraborty, Calcutta University.
b) Prof. Anupam Basu, Director NIT, Durgapur.
c) Shri Raj Shekhar Joshi, Group Head (Digital Technology &
Transformation), Joint President, Aditya Birla Group.
(xv) Electrical Engineering
a) Prof. Bhaskar Gupta, Professor, Jadavpur University.
Address: 19C/1, Kalibari Lane, Kolkata 700032.
b) Prof. Ajoy Roy, IIT Kharagpur.
c) Dr. Prith Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer of Ansys.
(xvi) Chemical and Biochemcal Engineering
a) Prof. Chiranjib Bhattacharya, ex ProVC, JU
b) Prof. S.E. Hasnain, Padma Shree Awardee, National Science
Chair, SERB, Department of Biochemical Engineering and
Biotechnology, IIT Delhi.
c)
Prof. RC Kuhad, Former ViceChancellor, Central University
of Haryana, and retired Professor of BioChemistry. Email:
kuhad85@gmail.com ; Phone no.: 9817813027.
(xvii) Civil and Mechanical Engineering
a) Prof. Deepankar Choudhury, T. Kant Chair Professor and
Head of Civil Engineering department at IIT Bombay.
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b) Prof. Sunil Kumar, VC Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki
Vishwavidyalay, Bhopal.
(xviii) Minerals and Agricultural Engineering
a) Prof. Indranil Manna, JC Bose Fellow, FTWAS, FNA, FNAE,
FNASc, FASc, MAPAM, FIE(I), FEMSI, FAScT, Professor, IIT
Kharagpur, Former Director, CSIR Central Glass & Ceramic
Institute, VC Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.
b) Prof. (Dr.) Virendra Kumar Tiwari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.
(xix) International Relations
a) Prof. Om Prakash Mishra, ex PVC, IGNOU & ex VC, NBU
(xx) Statistics & Information Science
a) Prof. Sabuj Kumar Chodhury, Professor, Department of
Library & Information Science. Address: Third Floor, Asutosh
Building, 87/1, College Street, Kolkata – 700073.
b) Prof. Bimal Kumar Roy, Head, RC Bose Centre for Cryptology
and Security, ISI Kolkata.
(xxi) Physiology
a) Prof. Gautam Pal, Pro VC, Kalyani University
(xxii) Geology
a)
Prof. S.K Tandon, former Pro ViceChancellor and retired
Professor University of Delhi. Email: sktand@iiser.ac.in ;
Phone no: 9810437365.
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(xxiii)Business and Management
a) Prof. Sujit Kumar Basu, former VC, Visva Bharati University.
b)
Professor Errol D’Souza (former Director IIMA), Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Email:
errol@iimahd.ernet.in Phone No.: 9558820604
(xxiv) Environment and Climate
a) Prof. Jayanta Bandopadhya, Retd. Professor, IIM Kolkata
Environmental Studies.
b) Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Eminent Technocrat & Head, Centre for
Sustainability, Mahindra University.
(xxv) Human Resource
a) Mr. Saptarshi Roy, Technocrat & Director (HR) NTPC Ltd.,
New Delhi.
(xxvi) Miscellaneous
b) Dr. S.K. Pattanayak, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary,
Deparment of Agriculture, GOI, New Delhi.
c) Mr. Parimal Rai, IAS (Retd.), Former Chief Secretary, Goa.
Address: 60, Poorvi Marg, Third Floor, Vasant Vihar, New
Delhi. Phone no: 09779866666/09810533311.
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14. The learned Chairperson is hereby authorized to constitute
separate or joint SearchcumSelection Committees for one or more
Universities, keeping in view the nature of subjects/disciplines in
which education is being imparted in such pooled Universities. The
Chairperson is requested to nominate 4 persons out of the empaneled
experts, whom he finds capable of shortlisting suitable names for
appointment as ViceChancellors. Learned Chairperson shall preside
over every SearchcumSelection Committee and thus, composition of
each such Committee shall be five. The SearchcumSelection
Committee shall prepare a panel of at least 03 names (alphabetically
and not in order of merit) for each University.
15. The learned Chairperson is requested to constitute the Search
cumSelection Committees for the group or the individual Universities
as early as possible and preferably within two weeks. The Department
of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal is hereby nominated
as the nodal department of the State Government to issue
advertisements giving vide publicity to invite applications for the posts
of ViceChancellors. Such advertisements shall contain the details of
the requisite qualification and other eligibility conditions, with a
specific reference to this Court’s order so as to infuse confidence,
leaving no uncertainty in the minds of the meritorious aspirants in
submitting their claims. The advertisements shall give four weeks’
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time to submit the applications. Such applications shall be scrutinized
by the concerned department of the State Government within one
week and shall thereafter the entire set of all applications be placed
before the learned Chairperson of the SearchcumSelection
Committee, who in turn, will get the dossier of each candidate
prepared for consideration of the SearchcumSelection Committee.
The Search Committee may endeavour to complete their task within
three months from today.
The learned Chairperson shall be paid an honorarium of Rs. 3
16.
lakhs for every effective day of proceedings of the Search Committee,
until the entire process is completed. The State Government, in
addition to honorarium, provide the Chairperson with a suitable office
and full secretarial assistance, along with transit accommodation at
Kolkata. The learned Chairperson shall also be provided with an
official vehicle and necessary paraphernalia forthwith, commensurate
to the constitutional position held by him in the past.
The members of the SearchcumSelection Committee shall be
17.
entitled to such allowance, perks, and facilities as may have been
prescribed under the Statutes or by the State Government. If nothing
has been prescribed, in that case, the petitionerState shall apprise
this Court of the status on the next date of hearing to enable us to
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pass appropriate order in this regard. Meanwhile, State Government is
directed to reimburse their air fare (economy class) lodging and
boarding expenses within one week of submission of such claims.
18. The recommendations made by the SearchcumSelection
Committee, duly endorsed by the learned Chairperson, shall be put up
before the Chief Minister (and not the Ministerincharge of a
Department) for necessary consideration. In case the Chief Minister,
State of West Bengal has reasons to believe that any shortlisted
person is unsuitable for appointment as ViceChancellor, the remarks
to this effect along with supporting material and the original record of
the recommendation made by the SearchcumSelection Committee,
shall be put up before the learned Chancellor within two weeks. The
Chief Minister shall be entitled to recommend the shortlisted names in
order of preference for appointment as ViceChancellors.
19. The learned Chancellor on the receipt of record from the Chief
Minister of the State, shall appoint the ViceChancellors out of the
empaneled names, in the same order of preference as recommended
by the Chief Minister of the State. In case the learned Chancellor has
any reservation against the empaneled names and/or the remarks
made by the Chief Minister of the State against any shortlisted
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candidate, the learned Chancellor shall be entitled to put up his own
opinion on file, duly supported with reasons and relevant material.
20. The learned Chancellor shall accord his approval (save and
except when there is a difference of opinion) within two weeks of
receipt of file from the Chief Minister of the State. The Department of
Higher Education, Government of West Bengal or any other concerned
Department of the State Government are hereby directed to notify the
appointment within one week from the date of receipt of approval from
the learned Chancellor of the University.
21. In the case(s) where the Chief Minister of the State has objected
to the inclusion of any name in the panel and such objection is not
acceptable to the Chancellor or where the Chancellor has an objection
against empanelment of any particular name for which he has
assigned his own reasons, all such files shall be put up before this
Court. We make it clear that a final decision in this regard shall be
taken by this Court after giving reasonable opportunity of being heard
to the objectors.
22. The State of West Bengal shall file the Status Report in respect
to compliance of the directions issued hereinabove before the next
date of hearing. We make it clear that since the constitution and
composition of SearchcumSelection Committee is at the instance
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and with the consent of the parties, we will not entertain any objection
from any side for noncompliance.
………………………………J.
(SURYA KANT)
………………………………J.
(K.V. VISWANATHAN)
NEW DELHI
DATED: 08.07.2024
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