– Mita Mukherjee

The Bengal higher education department on Wednesday removed acting registrar and finance officer of the state-aided Jadavpur University, allegedly on the basis of a demand by the RSS-affiliated teachers’ association of the university.

Selim Box Mandal, the acting registrar and finance officer Shiladitya Chatterjee were removed from the posts after a letter was issued by the higher education department attached with an order of governor, R.N. Ravi, who is the ex-officio chancellor of all state aided universities.

The higher education department appointed Debajit Dutta, a teacher of Jadavpur University (JU) and also the treasurer of the RSS affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM) as acting registrar and Indrajit Banerjee, a former acting registrar and also known to be a BJP supporter as temporary finance officer.

In the order, the chancellor cited the failure of the JU executive council (EC) it’s highest policy-making body the reason for the removal. It said that the EC had failed to initiate the statutory process to appoint permanent registrar and finance officer. It also stated that the university had allowed the two temporary officials to function beyond six months which does not comply with the existing rules.

Mandal, a JU professor of Bengali department and Chatterjee were appointed to the posts in 2025 during the previous regime of Trinamool Congress.

Mandal and Chatterjee were first appointed to the posts for two months in December. A six- month extension was given in April, which the ABRSM claimed was “illegal”.

The ABRSM had raised objections against the extension. They had first approached vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee and sought their removal. Later, they approached the higher education department and the chancellor’s office seeking appropriate action.

Vice-chancellor, Bhattacharjee said Dutra and Banerjee have have already joined.

“The two previous officials had worked very efficiently throughout their tenure. We hope the new appointees will also perform their duties efficiently,” Bhattacharjee told EducationWorld.

Bhaskar Sardar, ABRSM president and professor of JU information technolgy department said the two removed officials were functioning “illegally”.

“The EC itself at JU is illegal because it was formed not in compliance with the provisions of the university Act and statutes. The two officials, the finance officer and registrar were allowed to function beyond six months. This was also illegal. The six-month period has expired in May. So we repeatedly raised a demand to the VC and the chancellor seeking their removal. We are happy that our demand has been finally accepted. We welcome this decision,” Sardar told EducationWorld.

However, several JU teachers and members of the EC described the state government’ s decision to remove the two officials as an attempt to curb the autonomy of the EC.

The ABRSM started establishing its presence at JU after the BJP came to power in West Bengal in May this year.

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