Guv to attend JU meeting likely to decide on recipients of

A month after he escorted Union minister Babul Supriyo out of the Jadavpur University campus, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar he will attend the meeting of the Court, the highest decision making body of the institute, on Friday.

The Court meeting is expected to finalise names of recipients of honorary D Litt and DSc in the next Convocation to be held in December, a university official said.

When contacted, Dhankhar who is also the Chancellor of the university told PTI that he will visit JU on Friday.

"Jadavpur University deserves to be continually on growth trajectory and it must have the status of being an institution of eminence," he said.

 

This will be the first visit of the governor, also the JU chancellor, to the university after the Babul Supriyo episode on September 19, which had led to a war of words between him and the state's ruling Trinamool Congress.

JU Registrar Snehamanju Basu said there is a strong possibility of Chancellor Dhankhar attending the Court meeting scheduled on Friday.

The Court meeting is usually attended by the vice- chancellor, pro-vice-chancellors, heads of departments and representative of the higher education department.

About the procedure of choosing names of recipients of honorary degrees at Convocation, an office-bearer of the JU teachers' association said normally the Executive Council, comprising heads of departments, select the names by a two- thirds majority. The names are then passed on to the Court which again examines the list, finalises it and forwards the same to the Chancellor who gives the nod.

"But this year during a meeting with the VC at Raj Bhavan in September, the Chancellor had made it clear that he should be a party to any decision on the issue and suggested October 18 as the date of the meeting which he will attend," the JUTA office bearer, not wishing to be named, said.

Debraj Debnath, General Secretary of Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) said, "Being the Chancellor, he has every right to attend the Court meeting."

However, he said, the students will never forget how Dhankhar came to the campus on September 19 evening and took away Supriyo in a car ignoring the right of the students to protest against the policies of the BJP government.

The governor also did not utter a word against the vandalism allegedly by ABVP workers inside the JU campus on that day, Debnath said.

Asked if AFSU will stage a protest against Dhankhar, he said, "So far we haven't decided any such programme."

The JUTA office-bearer said they are hopeful there will be no untoward incident during Dhankhar's visit, but if there is any last minute development, "We will reason with the students and convince them."

Supriyo on September 19 was shown black flags and heckled by a section of students who also stopped him from leaving the JU campus, prompting Dhankhar to rush to the institute.

The governor too faced demonstrations by the students belonging to Left-leaning organisations including SFI and AFSU, naxalite students' wing AISA, besides a few members of the TMCP.