Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the incumbent constitutional head of the state C.V. Ananda Bose is ‘worse’ than the last governor Jagdeep Dhankar.
“The current Governor is acting in a whimsical manner as regards to appointing vice chancellors of state universities. He is appointing vice chancellors from among people who are not connected to the academic world.
“We had differences of opinion with Jagdeep Dhankhar also but he had never made arbitrary decisions like the incumbent Governor.
“As per norms the state government will recommend three names for the post of vice-chancellor and he will select one from among them. But the incumbent Governor does not care about such norms,” the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister’s remarks came when the Governor announced to open an anti-corruption cell within the Governor’s House to get direct information from the public on the issue of corruption.
The Chief Minister also attacked Governor on the issue saying that he has no authority to open such a cell.
“He is unnecessarily interfering in the functioning of the state government. He is forming an experts committee on the state’s higher education, inducting people from outside. This is not his task. This is the task of the state government,” the Chief Minister said.
Earlier, Education Minister Bratya Basu also criticised the Governor for his decision to open the anti-corruption cell within the Raj Bhavan premises.
“Such interferences from the Governor’s House are happening in all non-BJP ruled states. But in West Bengal that interference has taken an unprecedented shape. When he has decided to open this cell without discussing it with the education department, it seems that he is assuming the department laden with corruption,” Basu said.
He also said that the state government is considering approaching the Supreme Court against such actions on part of the Governor, keeping the state education department in the dark.
(IANS)
