Will try to hold college principals' body polls by Feb: Bengal minister

Education Minister Bratya Basu Wednesday assured the members of the All Bengal Principals' Council that the department will do its bit to ensure that fresh elections of the organisation are held by February, after a gap of six years.

At a meeting with Basu, the council delegation demanded that its current president, ousted Vice-Chancellor of North Bengal University Subiresh Bhattacharya, be removed from his post with immediate effect.

Bhattacharya was arrested by CBI in connection with the school jobs scam.

He was elected the President of the council in 2017 when he was the Principal of Shyamaprasad College and Chairman of SSC before taking over as the Vice-Chancellor of North Bengal University and has been occupying the post for past six years.

He had been removed from the post of VC three months back.

"We are not in favour of anything which goes against the established rules and procedures. The department will facilitate election in the council by February. I have a fruitful and satisfactory discussion with members of the council," Basu told reporters.

AJC Bose College Principal Purna Chandra Maity said, "We are happy after the talks with the minister. We hope elections, which have been long overdue, will now be held soon." Maity said the continuation in the council president's post by Bhattacharya, who is incarcerated, is setting a bad precedent and should be rectified at the earliest.

The council elections were scheduled to be held in 2019, but Lok Sabha elections and the Covid-19 outbreak set it back, a higher education department official said.