Education Dept sacks nominated members, re-employed officials

Kolkata, May 17 -- The West Bengal Higher Education Department has terminated with immediate effect the tenure of presidents and nominated members of governing bodies in state-aided and government colleges, along with that of officials serving on re-employment or extension beyond the age of 60.

A series of orders and notifications issued recently said the action was being taken in terms of a Home and Hill Affairs Department order.

An order issued by the College Sponsored Branch said the tenure of presidents and nominated members of governing bodies in all state-aided colleges stood terminated with immediate effect. It also ended the tenure of officers and officials continuing on re-employment or extension beyond the normal age of superannuation.

A separate notification issued by the Appointment Branch said the tenure of presidents and other nominated members of governing bodies in all government colleges had also been terminated with immediate effect. Officers and officials serving on re-employment or extension beyond 60 years were similarly removed.

Another notification issued by the Social Education Branch extended the decision to research institutes, organisations, non-statutory bodies and PSUs functioning under the branch. The notification covered institutions including the Institute of Historical Studies (IHS), Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search (JBNSTS), Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), Netaji Institute for Asian Studies (NIAS) and Bankim Bhavan Gavashana Kendra (BBGK). Government-nominated members of governing bodies, councils and executive committees in these institutions were removed, while contractual and re-employed officials serving after superannuation were also asked to step down.

Another notification issued recently accepted the resignations of Suranjan Das as honorary director of NIAS, Ratan Kumar Nandi as director of BBGK, Maitree Bhattacharyya as director of JBNSTS and Sabuj Chaudhury as nominated member in the governing council of IDSK.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.