Visva-Bharati gets a full-time V-C after more than two and half years

NEW DELHI: The President of India has given the go-ahead for appointment of Bidyut Chakraborty as the next vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, ET has learnt.

The government will soon be issuing his appointment orders putting an end to over two years of uncertainty on the campus and embarrassing episodes in New Delhi, involving the sacking of one sitting V-C and cancellation of appointment orders of another.

The Visva-Bharati University has not had a full time V-C since February 2016 after Sushanta Duttagupta was removed from office during Smriti Irani‘s regime at Human Resource Development Ministry. He was removed on grounds of irregularities. The University founded by Rabindranath Tagore has the Prime Minister as its Chancellor and enjoys a good reputation. However, its VCs have had a troubled relationship with the HRD ministry over the last few years.


Chakraborty is from the Department of Political Science in Delhi University, where he has been teaching since 1998.

He has a PhD from the London School of Economics and specialises in public administration.

While Chakraborty was embroiled in allegations of sexual harassment in 2007, which also held up his possible appointment as V-C of Delhi University, he had been exonerated of all charges by courts and cleared by vigilance for the top post at Shantiniketan, sources said.

The appointment at Visva-Bharati has come months after President Ram Nath Kovind scrapped the panel of names proposed for the position at the behest of the Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry.

The HRD ministry after getting presidential nod for appointing Swapan Kumar Dutta as the VC- suddenly changed its mind and requested the President to ‘reconsider’ his assent earlier this year, in view of some complaints and doubts over his credentials.

A not so amused Rashtrapati Bhavan went with the ministry request following which the panel of names and the selection committee were scrapped. A fresh committee was later constituted, which suggested five names, including Bidyut Chakraborty’s.

Others in the fray were Abhijit Chakraborty, the former V-C of Jadhavpur University, Mahua Mukherjee, the former Rabindranath chair professor of ICCR, Dhaka University besides Asha Mukherjee, the professor of philosophy at Visva-Bharati and acting V-C Sabujkali Sen.