The President decided not to approve the legislation in her review, effectively withholding assent to all three bills.
President Murmu Rejects West Bengal Bills: CM Will Not Become Chancellor of State Universities
According to officials on Tuesday, President Droupadi Murmu has withheld her assent to three amendment bills passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The bills sought to amend existing university laws to make the Chief Minister the chancellor of state-run universities. Governor C.V. Ananda Bose will continue in his role as chancellor of all state-aided universities under existing legal provisions.
A Lok Bhavan official said that the decision relates to the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022. These three were reserved by the Governor in April 2024 for the consideration of the President after being passed by the state assembly in June of the same year.
The Mamata Banerjee government introduced these bills with the express purpose of replacing the Governor, who is the statutory chancellor of state-aided universities, with the Chief Minister. A senior official in the education department said that the state government argued such a change would enable faster administrative decision-making and more effective governance of higher educational institutions.
The President decided not to approve the legislation in her review, effectively withholding assent to all three bills. Officials said that the principal Acts governing state-aided universities remain unchanged; they continue to provide that the Governor, by virtue of office, serves as the Chancellor of these institutions.
The presidential decision marks a significant setback for the state government’s long-standing effort to alter the governance structure of West Bengal’s public universities. According to observers, the move underscores ongoing tensions between the state’s executive leadership and constitutional provisions that assign key institutional roles to the governor.
Officials said that, with the Bills not receiving assent, the status quo remains, and Governor C.V. Ananda Bose’s role as chancellor persists under the existing legal framework.
Source: The Tribune
