Presidency College principal removed

KOLKATA: From today, Presidency College will not have a principal. The prestigious post was unceremoniously scrap-ped a day before the first vice-chancellor takes charge, stirring up yet another controversy surrounding the elite institution that has recently been upgraded to a university. The move has left existing principal Amitava Chatterjee extremely hurt. Earlier, the government had announced that he would continue to function alongside vice-chancellor Amita Chatterjee. The principal's post was abolished vide a notice that reachedAmitava Chatterjee over the weekend. He had taken over as principal in June thisyear after the retirement of Sanjib Ghosh. He had earlier enjoyed anotherfour-year stint as principal. "I have received the notice. I havebeen asked to vacate my office and return to the economics department. Do I havea choice?" he asked. The notice, addressed to the principal and sentby the state higher education department, states that from November 1, thevice-chancellor takes charge of the new university and "all powers shallhenceforth be vested in her". It adds that the principal's position will now"cease to exist" and advises Amitava Chatterjee to return to the economicsdepartment of which he is a professor. On October 7, highereducation minister Sudarshan Roychowhury had said Presidency would continue tohave a principal for at least one year. He had reasoned that its metamorphosisinto a university would take time and this is where the existing principal wouldplay a vital role. Higher education minister Sudarshan Roychowdhury had said on October 7 that first-year students of Presidency College were registered with the Calcutta University and this and many other issues would have to be sorted out and hence the principal's position would exist for at least a year. But, questions had been raised about the efficacy ofhaving two heads for the new university. Some educationists felt the CPM-backedwarring Government College Teachers Association had forced the state highereducation department to make such an announcement. The association had tried tostall the transformation of Presidency College into a university fearing thatmany teachers would then lose their jobs as they would fall short of theeligibility criteria. "They had probably wanted the old collegesystem to continue alongside the university, for as long as possible. Naturally,the existence of a principal along with the vice-chancellor would have helpedtheir cause. But it would have been a weird scenario. But the state governmentshowed lack of maturity in handling the situation," said former principal AmalMukhopadhyay. Confirming that a notice had been served to theexisting principal to make way for the vice-chancellor, Roychowdhury said, "Wefeel the VC is qualified enough to handle all her charges. So we have asked theexisting principal to return to his department." SociologistPrasanta Ray, who has studied and taught in Presidency College, said, "When Iheard that both the principal and the VC would work together, I thought it wasan impossible situation and I wanted it to change in favour of what they havedone now. It looked as if the state was trying to follow an appeasement policyunder pressure." Teacher of English at Jadavpur University, Supriya Chaudhuri, who is both a student and a former teacher of Presidency, also welcomed the current move.