Around 5,000 students receive degrees, certificates at Jadavpur University convocation

Kolkata: Around 5,000 students received degrees and certificates at the convocation held at Jadavpur University on Sunday.

Buddhadeb Sau, who was removed as the officiating vice chancellor of the university by Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday night on disciplinary grounds, declared the ceremony open but did not address the gathering or hand out the degrees but sat through the proceedings on the podium.

Sau delegated the responsibility of handing out the degrees to pro-VC Amitava Dutta.

After Bose, the ex-officio chancellor of state-run universities, removed Sau from the post of interim VC, the state higher education department, in a communique issued late on Saturday night, allowed Sau to exercise his powers and perform the duty of declaring the convocation open in the interest of students.

Sau had apparently earned the wrath of Raj Bhavan for going ahead with the convocation, which is held on December 24 every year, on the scheduled date despite Bose not having given consent to the function citing legal issues.

In the midnight communique, the higher education department described the Raj Bhavan's decision as 'unilateral'.

Later, while speaking to reporters, Sau said the governor's letter to him cited no reason for removal from the post.

"Please ask the person who has given the order about the reason," he said.

"The state government's communique allowed me to hold the court meeting just before the convocation and I went by the mandate. Everything was done in the interest of the students and I am thankful to the education minister (Bratya Basu) and his department. I also thank the chancellor (Bose) for allowing me to work all these days. But I would like to make it clear that I was asked to take over the post of interim VC and never hankered for it," he said.

Sau did not comment on whether he would turn up at the VC's office on January 2, when the institute reopens after the Christmas-New Year vacation.

"I will act as per the law. As the officiating VC, it was my responsibility to complete the convocation process," he added.

Meanwhile, around 300 activists of the SFI and AISA carrying black flags entered the convocation venue after the ceremony and raised slogans over the delay of over four years in holding student union polls.

They also demanded immediate punishment for those responsible for the death of an undergraduate student following ragging and denounced the sending of invitations to the governor, education minister and UGC chairman Jagdeesh Kumar 'for their stance with regard to NEP, 2020'.

On the sacking of Sau, university court member and senior professor Manojit Mondal said, "The chancellor's powers cannot be over and above the university court and the higher education department which has given him the authority to conduct the convocation. We are happy with the state's role."

Executive Council member and All Bengal University Teachers' Association leader Goutam Maity told PTI that the court meeting, held on Sunday morning before the convocation, paved the way for Sau opening the ceremony, with the state government having notified the right of the university court to decide on the matter after Raj Bhavan's decision (to remove Sau).

Senior JU faculty member and former head of International Relations Department, Omprakash Mishra, said that as per the university statute, the convocation has to be held on December 24 every year and the university's autonomy cannot be 'encroached upon'.

However, Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) general secretary Partha Pratim Roy pointed out that as the chancellor is the appointing authority of the VC and is the 'constitutional custodian' of state universities as per the rules, the removal of Sau from the post before the convocation may raise questions about the legality of the entire proceedings of the day.

"The certificates have been signed by Sau on the date on which he was removed from the post. We hope that will not be challenged. Otherwise, the certificates need to be signed again. We wish for the appointment of a full-time VC and immediate resolution of the impasse in the appointment of VCs of state universities like JU," he added.

Nevertheless, despite the drama, students dressed in the university's traditional yellow convocation gowns expressed happiness on receiving degrees.

"I was waiting for this moment for so long to receive my degree," post-graduate philosophy student Ankita Sarkar said.