The Patna High Court on Friday issued orders to end the long impasse between Bihar Raj Bhavan and the state department of education, keeping in abeyance the order of freezing bank accounts of all the state universities and withholding the salaries of university officials.
During the proceedings of the case, Justice Anjani Kumar Sharan clarified that no coercive actions will be taken against the university and its officials till further orders.
The high court ordered that with a view of amicably resolving the issue, a meeting of vice chancellors, registrars, examination controllers and financial advisers of state universities will be convened with the top leadership of the state education department, including the Additional Chief Secretary, on May 6, 2024.
The court further ruled “It is expected that if the chief secretary of Bihar remains free on that day, he may preside over the aforesaid meeting. If he cannot find time, the meeting would take place and all the issues would be discussed properly. Entire proceedings of the meeting would be video-graphed.”
“It is also expected that the universities will now make payment of all the retiral dues, release salaries of serving employees and proceed ahead with the examination schedule so that academic sessions are maintained and regularised and the interests of the students at large do not suffer,” the court added.
It is to be noted that Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar expressed dismay over the education department’s order to withhold the salary of in-charge vice-chancellor and pro-VC of Bihar University (Muzaffarpur) and freezing bank accounts of the varsity while attending Patna University’s Teachers Day celebrations last year.
Bihar governor went on to underscore the distress faced by university officials who were caught in the crossfire of this ongoing tussle between the education department and Raj Bhawan, saying “Aaj shikshak deen ban gaya hai, chahe vice-chancellor ho ya kuch (Today, the teachers have become meek, whether its vice-chancellor or someone else).”
The Bihar education department, in March, had ordered the freezing of the bank accounts of state universities and suspension of the salaries of the vice-chancellors for not attending a review meeting convened by it in February this year.
The department also asked vice-chancellors to show cause as to why they gave the meeting to discuss the status of pending examinations among other issues a miss.
The case has been listed for hearing on May 17, 2024 if need be.
Source Agencies
