Bidyut Chakrabarty takes charge as Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati University

After waiting for more than two and a half years, the Visva Bharati University has finally got its full-time Vice-Chancellor. Bidyut Chakraborty took over charge as the vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University on Friday, a month after President Ram Nath Kovind cleared his name for the position. The varsity was run by a series of acting vice-chancellors for the past few years. Sushanta Datta Gupta, who was the last permanent head of the university, was sacked by then HRD minister Smriti Irani.

“We welcome the appointment of the new vice-chancellor. With no permanent VC at the university over the past two and a half years, the functioning had taken a hit. This gap will now be plugged. For instance, an investigation committee was set up to look into the malpractice and corruption charges against our former VC Sushanta Datta Gupta. But in the absence of a permanent head, the probe has not made much headway. This investigation is one of the first responsibilities that the new VC will have to look at,” said executive council member and President’s nominee Sushovan Banerjee to The Indian Express.

Without a VC, the financial activities of the institute were also affected and many projects had not taken off, Banerjee said. “The complete functioning of a university is affected in absence of a permanent VC,” he added.

The Visva Bharati University has been making headlines ever since Datta was sacked by the MHRD. University’s acting VC Sabuj Kali Sen’s tenure was riddled with controversies. Many senior members of the executive council (EC), including Banerjee, expressed their dissatisfaction after Sen’s tenure was extended as officiating VC.

After Datta Gupta was dismissed from the central university in February 2016, Professor Swapan Kumar Dutta had become the acting V-C.

“The new appointment is definitely welcome. The question is why it took the MHRD so long to make these appointments. During my tenure, all the key positions at the university were lying vacant, including that of the Registrar, Finance Officer, Director Libraries and a number of other Directors. The functioning of a university is obviously inadequate with these posts lying vacant. This apathy on part of the MHRD has been surprising to say the least. But Professor Chakraborty has good academic credentials, which is a welcome move for the university,” former acting VC Swapan Dutta said to The Indian Express.