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West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has appointed permanent Vice-Chancellors of six State-aided universities on Wednesday (October 29, 2025), after years of lock jam kept the positions vacant and working under interim position holders. Top universities such as Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, and four other varsities are set to get new V-Cs after years of impasse.
Professor Ashutosh Ghosh will be appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, he had previously served as the interim V-C of the same institute in 2017. Professor Chiranjib Bhattacharyya will serve as the permanent V-C of Jadavpur University. He is currently working as the president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education and was also a former pro-V-C of Jadavpur University.
“In such top educational institutes, the V-C post is very crucial; they run the whole academic place. Without the V-C, the whole system suffers on a daily basis. Even planning future projects becomes a problem. There was a vacuum in JU and other universities because of this. The longer this vacuum stays, the more damage it does towards education. We are happy this decision has been taken,” Professor Partha Pratim Biswas, president of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA), told The Hindu on Thursday (October 30).
The permanent V-C candidates were shortlisted by a Supreme Court-appointed search committee and set in order of preference by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who sent the list to the Governor for approval. The six people were reportedly called to a meeting at the West Bengal Governor’s residence at Raj Bhavan on Monday (October 27, 2025) evening. Formal notifications were sent to the six universities by the West Bengal Government Higher Education Department on Wednesday (October 29, 2025).
“NOW, THEREFORE, in terms of the above mentioned orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and in exercise of the powers conferred by the Jadavpur University Act, 1981, as amended from time to time, the Hon’ble Chancellor is hereby pleased to appoint Prof. Dr. Chiranjib Bhattacharjee as the Vice-Chancellor of the Jadavpur University with effect from the date of joining for a period of four years or till he attains the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier,” the official letter from the West Bengal Government addressed towards Jadavpur University on October 29 stated.
The new appointments will include Vice-Chancellors for the University of Gour Banga, Kazi Nazrul University, Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University, and Biswa Bangla Biswabidyalay. Invited to the Raj Bhavan for the process were Ashis Bhattacharya (University of Gour Banga), Uday Bandyopadhyay (Kazi Nazrul University), Chandradipa Ghosh (Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University), Abu Taleb (Biswa Bangla Biswabidyalay), along with Ghosh and Bhattacharyya. These appointments were also announced on the social media page of the Raj Bhavan Media Cell page on X.
“Today, Vice-Chancellors who were the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s first choices have been appointed to six more State-aided universities. I extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all of them!” State Education Minister Bratya Basu wrote on social media handle X.
The State had seen a long impasse between the Governor and the Chief Minister on who holds the power to appoint the V-Cs at these State-run universities. Ms. Banerjee had on multiple occasions accused that the Governor appointed interim V-Cs without her consultation. However, the Raj Bhavan claimed that the State Government was overstepping the Governor’s constitutional powers as Chancellor of these universities. This impasse had led to many of the top universities functioning without a V-C for years, leading to troubles in academic and administrative decisions.
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