Calcutta University Pro-Vice Chancellor Asis Chattopadhyay appointed as interim Vice-Chancellor

The move comes days after Supreme Court upheld the order of the Supreme Court upheld order of the Calcutta High Court setting aside the government’s decision to reappoint Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee as Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Calcutta University Pro-Vice Chancellor Asis Chattopadhyay appointed as interim Vice-Chancellor

The West Bengal government has named Calcutta University Pro-Vice Chancellor Asis Kumar Chattopadhyay as the interim Vice-Chancellor of the varsity. The move comes days after Supreme Court upheld the order of the Supreme Court upheld order of the Calcutta High Court setting aside the government’s decision to reappoint Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee as Vice-Chancellor of the university.

In an official notification on Thursday, the higher education department said that "Chattopadhyay was appointed to exercise the power and perform the duties of the Vice-Chancellor of CU for a period of three months or till the appointment of a regular Vice-Chancellor on recommendation by the Search Committee or till he attains the age of 70 years, or until further orders."

On October 11, Supreme Court had observed that the state of West Bengal has confiscated the powers of the West Bengal Chancellor while reappointing Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee as the Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University. While holding it, the SC dismissed the petitions filed by the State of West Bengal and Banerjee assailing the order of the Calcutta High Court, whereby the decision of the State to re-appoint Banerjee as Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Calcutta University was set aside.

The SC however observed that the judgment passed by the High Court was correct both in facts and in law. The Court noted that State misused the removal of difficulty clause under the Calcutta University Act to usurp the power of the Chancellor to make the appointment.

"The Government cannot misuse the removal of difficulty clause to remove all obstacles in its path which arise due to statutory restrictions. Allowing such action would be antithetical to the rule of law misusing the limited power granted", Justice Chandrachud read out the excerpts from the judgment.

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