Guv tells Jadavpur University VC to take care of his health

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today asked Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das to take care of his health and perform duties in accordance, days after he expressed desire to relinquish the post in the wake of an admission crisis in the varsity.

Das visited the Raj Bhawan this afternoon and apprised Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of JU, of the ongoing situation at the university, besides, doctors advising the VC to not put strain on his health, a senior official of the Governor's House said.

"The Chancellor advised Das to first take care of his health and perform his duties in accordance with medical advice," the official said, when asked about the development in the 25-minute-long meeting.

Das had told reporters in the JU campus that he, along with Pro-VC Pradip Ghosh, wanted to quit the post, on July 10, the day JU's Executive Council decided to reintroduce admission tests in the Arts faculty, putting an end to the impasse surrounding the scrapping of the entrance exams.

The EC, after a marathon meeting, decided to admit students in six humanities subjects based on the 50:50 formula - equal weightage on marks obtained in admission tests and in board exams.

Shortly after the announcement, members of the Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU), spearheading the agitation by students to press for reintroduction of admission tests, said they were withdrawing their 96-hour fast.

The University had earlier announced the scrapping of entrance tests for the six subjects - English, Comparative Literature, Bengali, History, Political Science and Philosophy - and decided that board examination marks would be the only criteria for admission.

In retaliation, the AFSU members gheraoed the VC and other EC members in protest. The sit-in, which lasted for about 30 hours, was followed by ceasework by JUTA members, class boycott and an indefinite fast by AFSU members.

During the impasse, Tripathi, in a communication to the university, had said that while the EC usually takes decisions on different issues of the varsity, the VC was empowered to take certain decisions on his own in case of exigencies.