Government of Bihar locks horns with Governor over autonomy of State universities

Govt. of Bihar & Raj Bhavan in conflict after latter's letter to V-Cs to follow only its orders. Education Dept. issued two letters in response, one to Raj Bhavan & other to V-Cs with fresh instructions.

The Raj Bhavan had earlier instructed Vice-Chancellors of all universities in Bihar not to follow any orders except those issued by the Governor

Patna

The Raj Bhavan and Government of Bihar were at loggerheads after the Governor’s office sent a letter to the Vice-Chancellors of all the State universities to follow no orders except those issued by the Governor. In response to the Governor’s instructions, the Education Department sent out its own letter to the Raj Bhavan as well as the V-Cs concerned issuing a fresh set of instructions.

Principal Secretary to the Governor, Robert L. Chongthu, wrote the letter from the Governor’s office, dated August 30, which was made available on Friday. As a response, two letters were issued from the Education Department, dated August 31 and September 1 respectively. The first letter was addressed to Mr. Chongthu while the second included a fresh set of instructions to the V-Cs of the universities.

In the letter issued from Raj Bhavan, it was made clear that giving instructions to the university by anyone other than Raj Bhavan or the Governor’s Secretariat is not compatible with their autonomy.

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Mr. Chongthu’s letter asserted that “certain officials are attempting to create confusion illegally and recalcitrantly and are undermining the established autonomy of the university administration as well as the clearly laid down and unambiguous power and authority of the office of Chancellor in the matter of running the affairs of universities”.