Kolkata, Sep 9 (IANS) West Bengal Governor RN Ravi has appointed a new Acting Registrar and Finance Officer for Jadavpur University in Kolkata, state government officials said on Wednesday.
It is learnt that Debajit Dutta is going to join as the Acting Registrar while Indrajit Banerjee is going to join as Finance Officer of the Jadavpur University.
In a letter to Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee dated September 8, the West Bengal Higher Education Department said, “I am directed to inform you that the Chancellor of Jadavpur University… has been pleased to appoint Debajit Dutta, Associate Professor of Department of History at Jadavpur University as varsity’s Registrar and Indrajit Banerjee, Faculty of Arts Secretary at Jadavpur University as varsity’s Finance Officer temporarily for six months in addition to their normal duties with effect from the date of joining or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”
The letter also said, “The statutory process in regard to appointment of permanent Registrar and permanent Finance Officer of Jadavpur University may commence forthwith.”
In the last few days, the process of appointing a new Registrar started at Jadavpur University.
It is learnt that the appointment of permanent registrar and finance officer was discussed in the working committee meeting held on September 4.
Two people have been nominated as representatives of the working committee in the appointment committee for the appointment of permanent officials for these two important posts of the administration.
However, no permanent appointments have been made.
In April 2025, the term of Selim Box Mandal as acting registrar and Shiladitya Chatterjee as temporary finance officer was extended for the second time.
A section of teachers protested against this extension.
The allegation was that they were being kept in their posts for an illegal period.
Regarding this matter, Gautam Maity, General Secretary of the All Bengal University Teachers’ Association (ABUTA), a prominent Left-leaning teachers’ union primarily active in West Bengal, said, “We had complained to the Governor (RN Ravi) who is the Chancellor of the university, the Chief Minister (Suvendu Adhikari) and the Higher Education Minister (Jagannath Chattopadhyay) that this appointment is illegal. No one’s term can be extended for more than six months in this way. Apart from this, there are also questions about the validity of the working committee meeting in which the decision to extend the term was taken. This work was being done illegally.”
Former Interim Vice-Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau had earlier raised objections to the extension of the tenure of the two officers.
The development comes weeks after clashes broke out between members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Students Federation of India (SFI) inside and outside the Jadavpur University campus in Kolkata.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said that anti-national slogans were raised and wall graffiti were found in hostel premises which led to the formation of an inquiry committee.
The objectionable wall graffiti were later removed.
–IANS
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