West Bengal assembly passes university laws amendment bill, BJP opposes

Amid opposition from the BJP, The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed in the state legislative assembly on Friday.

The bill was necessitated following the need for changes in acts of different state-aided universities in West Bengal — specifically, concerning the appointment of vice-chancellors, and the constitution of a search committee for appointment of vice-chancellors, maintaining provisions in accordance with Regulations of 2018 of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

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Earlier, when the assembly was not in session, an ordinance had been promulgated for the purpose.

As “amendments to motion” a demand that the bill be referred to a select committee of the House that would submit its report in three months, and another – that the bill be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon by September 30, had also been moved. The bill, however, finally made its way.

Bratya Basu, the minister in-charge, who introduced and moved the bill for consideration, clarified that while the UGC had introduced regulations in 2018, education being a concurrent subject, it’s not obligatory to go with proposed guidelines immediately. Following Supreme Court directives, however, some regulations have been adopted.

The assembly witnessed commotion, when Basu’s mention of “Ram and Baam”, part of a phrase used by the ruling party to depict an unofficial understanding between its opponents, offended the BJP MLAs, who raised slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”.

With the new regulations in place, after the act is enforced, the search committees for appointing vice-chancellors will have five members.