Bidyut Chakraborty

The HRD Ministry has appointed Delhi University professor Bidyut Chakraborty as the vice chancellor of Visva-Bharati, official sources said Monday, in a move that could mark an end to troubles on the central university campus in West Bengal's Santiniketan since 2016.

The family of the class 12 student of Visva-Bharati-run Patha Bhavan school, whose body was found hanging in his hostel room on Thursday, has demanded a CBI investigation, alleging it was a murder and the varsity authorities were trying to hush it up.

The High Court in Kolkata fined Visvabharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty Rs.2 lakhs for ordering a Departmental Probe against a VB Employee who had sanctioned a childcare leave to his subordinate. The Petitioner's Lawyer, Subir Sanyal, told the HC that Sinha had in 2021 sanctioned a childcare leave of an Assistant Professor a year later. Sanyal told the HC that Departmental Charges were framed against Sinha questioning why he had sanctioned the leave he appealed that the Notice Framing the Charges should be set aside. Justice Chanda set aside the Notice and fined the VC Rs.2 lakhs. The HC made it clear that the VC would have to Deposit the Fine.

Visva-Bharati is going through an acute financial crisis, it is “ailing and running on life support”, said the university vice-chancellor, Bidyut Chakraborty, at a programme observing International Mother Language Day on Friday.

A professor at Visvabharati University in Kolkata was served a termination notice on Thursday, on grounds of alleged misconduct. He has decided to challenge his dismissal in the Calcutta High Court. Students and teachers have expressed outrage at the sacking order, which was issued after the university's executive council meeting. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, who was professor in the department of economics, politics, and also the president of the VB Faculty Association, has termed the termination illegal as no showcause had been issued to him. University officials also said such extreme action was usually taken in cases of financial misappropriation, and there was no such allegation against him. However, there are 15 cases pending on multiple issues in the HC, additionally there have been a string of showcause notices disciplinary proceedings and suspensions against Bhattacharyya over the past three years, while no punishment has been announced in any case. The suspension was withdrawn just three months ago, the first instance of friction between Bhattacharyya and VC Bidyut Chakraborty coming after the faculty association's office was locked on January 15, 2020. Following a sexual harassment complaint against the VC, the same year Bhattacharyya

The Visva Bharati Students' Unity, comprising Left-wing students, has filed a police complaint against vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty, accusing him of asking some people to teach a lesson to certain Left- leaning students of the central varsity.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday visited Visva-Bharati here and paid homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the university campus. Shah is scheduled to visit the Upasana Griha (prayer house) and Sangeet Bhavan, where students of the university would render Rabindra Sangeet in a cultural programme, sources said.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday visited Visva-Bharati and paid homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the University campus. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, paid floral tributes to Gurudev Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan.

The alleged kidnapping of doctor Bidyut Chakraborty from his Pradhan Khunta home turned out to be drama when the homeopath returned home late Tuesday night.

The Birbhum district court on Tuesday stayed Visva-Bharati University's eviction notice to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen from a part of his ancestral home in Santiniketan and asked the university to furnish land documents based on which it had claimed that the economist was encroaching on its land.

A group of students sitting on a dharna near the official residence of Bidyut Chakraborty, vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati, tried to stop him from going to office on Tuesday leading to a fracas with security guards.

A blame game between the Santiniketan Trust and Visva-Bharati has put a question mark on holding of Poush Mela on Bhubandanga ground inside the campus from December 23.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Wednesday denied the allegation levelled by Visva-Bharati that his family was occupying more land than to which it was entitled in Santiniketan.

Visva-Bharati University is keen to start five schools of studies at its first satellite centre in Nainital's Ramgarh from July, vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty said on Friday.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Thursday said any controversy over the land row with Visva-Bharati was "irrelevant" since his father had willed it to his mother, and after her, he inherited Pratichi. "Questions, if any, has to be asked to the VB vice-chancellor," Sen told reporters, while leaving Santiniketan. Sen is scheduled to leave for the USA via Mumbai.

The Calcutta High Court-appointed four-member committee, chaired by Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Justice Arijit Banerjee, state advocate-general Kishore Dutta and additional solicitor general YZ Dastur, visited Visva-Bharati on Sunday.

The notification was necessitated due to the "magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic" raging in the country, it said.