West Bengal Governor Orders Probe into University Corruption

Kolkata: In a dramatic step, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of all state universities, on Friday ordered a judicial probe into "corruption, violence and misuse of university campuses" in the state for "electioneering and political purposes."

The enquiry will be headed by a one-man commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court, according to the Raj Bhavan.

The governor's order came a day after he asked the Mamata Banerjee government to drop Bratya Basu as state education minister over his participation in the state conference of West Bengal College and University Professors’ Union with Trinamul Congress leaders on the Gour Banga University campus on March 30.

Mr Basu wrote X handle, “It is interesting to note that Chancellor and Governor has ordered a judicial enquiry into corruption, violence and misuse of University campuses in West Bengal for electioneering and political purposes. Now, as we all know that the government is not run through virtual social media like X handle, Facebook – the order of this enquiry should reach the Government as well as the media.”

He added, “One more interesting thing is that the ‘Chancellor and Governor’ has ordered the enquiry. Now the question is that can the Chancellor exercise the powers? Confusion reigns supreme.”