The Supreme Court on Friday ended the long-running tussle between Governor RN Ravi and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the appointment of vice-chancellors in West Bengal universities, ending the years-long dispute.The court approved the recommended candidates for the remaining three universities and directed that their appointments be finalized after approval from Governor Ravi. Along with this, the process of appointment of vice chancellors in all 36 state universities has now been completed.The matter reached the Supreme Court after a standoff between the Banerjee-led West Bengal government and the governor, who also serves as the chancellor of state universities. To address the issue, the court had earlier constituted a search-cum-selection committee headed by former Chief Justice of India UY Lalit.On the basis of the committee’s recommendations, the Vice Chancellors were appointed in a phased manner over the last several months. On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalia Bagchi formally closed the case.The three universities for which appointments were still pending were Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, University of North Bengal and Netaji Sabhas Open University.The court directed the West Bengal government to place the approved names before Governor RN Ravi for further action.
