KOLKATA: Stumped by the higher education department’s “unprecedented” demand for detailed information on the past three years’ executive council (EC) meetings, professors at Jadavpur University (JU) said it appeared to be an attempt by the govt to get back at the institute for “raising various uncomfortable questions”, including the reason behind the EC meeting not being allowed to be held.The higher education department has asked JU to provide a full account of EC meetings held from 2023 to 2026, complete with its agendas and minutes. It has also called for the miscellaneous agenda, tabled in each EC meeting, beyond the itemised agenda and its minutes.Most professors at the university termed the move “unprecedented” and an “attempt to curb the university’s autonomy” as this was probably the first time that the education department had sought such detailed information on EC. The teachers pointed out that there were nominees from the higher education department, higher education council and the finance department in the EC. “A change in the govt notwithstanding, the department officials have remained the same. So the department should have all the documents. Seeking such details of EC is an attempt to target our university through such directives as the teachers have been vocal about the need to conduct EC and raised many uncomfortable questions,” said a senior professor.JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee had written to higher education minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay and governor R N Ravi last week on the need to conduct an EC meeting to solve academic and administrative deadlock as the last EC meeting was held on April 4. Most HoDs and EC members wrote to the VC, urging him to hold the EC meeting. Prompted by teachers’ protest, the VC had called an EC meeting on Aug 6 but deferred it following verbal communication from a higher education department official. RSS-affiliated ABRSM objected to the meeting and sent a letter to Chattopadhyay.Pharmacy department associate professor Manas Bhowmik said, “The state has appointed its nominee for holding EC but recently, an higher education department official verbally asked the VC to defer the EC without any reason. Now, it has sought details of EC meetings from 2023 to 2026. Such interventions point at the govt trying to curb JU’s autonomy. By asking for EC documents, they want to know the decisions taken by the university and would act on them if it is not aligned with the present govt’s policy.”JUTA president Partha Pratim Ray said, “Policy decisions are made at EC meetings. There is no valid reason to interfere in the autonomous and internal university processes. Such a demand for EC documents for three years has never been made. The agenda, we believe, is to target and control the functioning of the university from outside. Following the changes in the University Act in 2011, the university repeatedly asked the department to change the statute but it has been deliberately kept on hold.”Comparative literature department professor Sujit Kumar Mandal said, “Educational institutes must have autonomy to function and freedom to make their own decisions. There should not be any external or political interference. I appeal to solve the existing deadlock so that an EC meeting can be held for JU’s benefit.”But ABRSM member Bhaskar Sardar claimed there was no connection between the education department seeking EC records of the past three years and an attack on JU’s autonomy. “These are public documents,” he said.
