Kolkata: Twelve former vice-chancellors of West Bengal state universities on Thursday sent a legal notice to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who is also the chancellor of all state universities by virtue of his chair, alleging defamation.
The vice-chancellors have clarified that the notice has been sent not to the governor but to the chancellor.
These 12 former VCs are those who were named by the governor as those who had to resign in accordance with the Supreme Court's order since their appointments were not as per norms.
In the legal notice, the vice-chancellors demanded the Governor withdraw his statement and tender a public apology within the next 15 days or face a libel suit in the court.
Their contention is that the comments by the governor have resulted in the loss of social prestige.
They have also demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakhs for each of them from the Governor.
After appointing interim vice chancellors for those universities, On September 7, the Governor issued a video message clarifying the appointment.
“Why I had to appoint interim vice chancellors for so many state universities? That was because the previous vice-chancellors had to resign as per the order of the Supreme Court of India because their appointments were not as per norms. I did not ask them to resign. They resigned themselves following the apex court’s order,” the Governor said.
“Now you might ask why did not appoint state-nominated persons as vice-chancellors. Some of those nominated persons were either involved in corruption while others had charges of harassing female students. How could I appoint them as vice-chancellors?” the Governor questioned.
With inputs from IANS