SC notice on plea alleging inaction by Bengal governor in giving assent to universities bill

New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response from the office of West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on a plea alleging inaction in giving assent to the West Bengal Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022, which was passed by the state legislature in June 2022.

The West Bengal Assembly in 2022 had passed a bill to replace the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of all the state-run universities.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala issued notice to the principal secretary to the governor and the Union of India, seeking reply within four weeks.

“Issue notice, liberty to serve the central agency,” the bench said.

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by one Sayan Mukherjee against an order of the Calcutta High Court which stayed its own earlier directions seeking response from the governor on the issue and said it would examine the maintainability of the petition.

Initially, on September 12 last year, the high court had sought affidavits from the office of the West Bengal governor on the PIL challenging his alleged inaction.

The plea filed in the high court had submitted that even though the West Bengal Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022 was pending consideration since 2022, the governor kept on making appointments of vice-chancellors (VCs) in his capacity as the chancellor of the state universities.

The Centre, however, submitted before the high court that under Articles 212 and 361 of the Constitution, the governor is immune from answering the subject issue and the PIL was politically motivated and not genuine.