JU teachers may soon lose freedom to criticise state govt

Teachers and other employees at Jadavpur University may soon lose the freedom to publicly criticise the state government if the Chancellor approves a new revised statute.
According to some revisions made in the draft statute by the West Bengal Higher Education department, if any employee of the university is found to be involved in "unethical propagation of state's policy in media and press" it shall be treated as an act of misconduct.
It also says that other grounds of misconduct will be those which can be detrimental to the interest of the state and the university or the institution he is serving, as may be considered by the state government and university.

JU officials said the revised statute will now be examined by the executive council after which they will send it to the Chancellor for final approval.
"The new draft statute was written in 2013 but now suddenly the government has revised it," officials said.
The revised draft has come under criticism from teachers of the state-run varsity who think it would amount to interference in day-to-day matters of Jadavpur University.
Another clause in the draft says the Vice Chancellor will be the disciplinary authority for teachers and shall not be entitled to impose any punishment other than censure on any teacher.

Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das and state education Partha Chatterjee could not be contacted for comment.