Prof Bhaskar Gupta named new Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has appointed senior professor Bhaskar Gupta as the new Vice Chancellor of the prestigious state-run Jadavpur University.

Gupta's appointment as VC was recommended by the state government which had submitted a list of VCs of six state universities, including that of JU, which had remained headless since April 2023 after the extended tenure of permanent VCs were over.

The Governor who is also the Chancellor of state-run universities appointed Gupta as the vice chancellor of Jadavpur University on Monday.

Welcoming the development, Education minister Bratya Basu said in a post on X handle "Good sense has prevailed."

Basu further said "Prof Bhaskar Gupta has been appointed as the VC of Jadavpur University by the Honourable Chancellor. His name was recommended as the VC of the same university by the Higher Education department with the approval of the Hon'ble Chief Minister."

"Hopefully the other universities will also get VCs appointed by the Chancellor in accordance with the recommendations of the state government," the minister said in a post on X.

Basu said "I congratulate the Hon'ble Chancellor for appointing JU VC. I also congratulate Prof Bhaskar Gupta on being appointed as VC of JU. Good sense prevails."

The Education minister had acrimonious exchanges with the Raj Bhavan in the past couple of months over the governor's alleged unilateral act to appoint interim VCs in 31 universities.

He had also accused the governor in the past of going ahead with the appointment and removal of interim VCs despite the matter of the appointment of VCs pending before the Supreme Court.

After the SC in its observation advocated the appointment of VCs of six state universities by the governor going by the list of names recommended by the state government, the chancellor met the Attorney General and there was sign of resolving the impasse.

The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) welcomed the appointment of the new VC.

Prof Buddhadev Sau, who was appointed by the governor as interim VC of JU in August 2023 was removed from the post by the governor in December last year.