Rally participants outside JU gates on Wednesday
Calcutta University Teachers’ Association (CUTA) president Sanatan Chattopadhyay said, “Calcutta University presently has only 42% of its total sanctioned faculty strength. He added, “Different colleges that have attained a certain level of excellence have been upgraded to universities such as Sanskrit University, Presidency University and Raiganj University so that the outstanding teachers could dedicate their human resource and time creating vertical centres of excellence.
If the university teachers are also transferred now, then they will not dedicate their time and resources to create labs and research,” said a senior academician. This bill is a major contradiction to the mandate of NEP and the Niti Ayog and also the vision of Viksit Bharat. ” JUTA assistant general secretary Arindam Sil said, “This is a direct assault on university autonomy and job security. Tarun Kanti Naskar, a retired JU professor and a member of the state secretariat of SUCI (Communist), said, “In the Left-Front regime, they used to transfer many stalwart teachers from govt colleges like Presidency, who allegedly did not support them, to rural govt colleges in Coochbehar, Darjeeling.
They dedicate their entire time to create exceptional labs and a real centre of excellence at the university. This will plunge research activities into profound uncertainty. Equipment procured for research projects remains under the university’s jurisdiction, and research scholars are registered with the university. A professor plays a pivotal role in both managing research projects and supervising scholars—activities that will be thrown into disarray in their absence. No such model exists in central or state government institutions in India, nor in recognized higher education systems abroad. The teaching community, as a vital human resource, plays a paramount role in the excellence of any higher education institution. Above all, is there a guarantee that this law will not be weaponized against critics of government policies? So, is it possible to support other universities when all our departments are struggling with an extreme shortage of teaching staff? It happened in the Trinamool era too. But such transfers do not apply to university professors. Transferring teachers who are supervising research will disrupt these activities. Furthermore, the UGC approves university teaching posts, and it does so for that specific university. They even specify the exact specialization and qualifications required for the teacher. If such a teacher is transferred to another university, neither of the two universities involved will be benefitted. What if the bill is used to target professors with opposing views?”
Because if their guide is transferred to another university, what will the fellow do, “Research scholars would face immense hardship. Kolkata: During the Left Front era, the state govt frequently exercised its power to routinely transfer professors between Presidency College and other govt colleges across Bengal. Critics and academics often accused the Left Front of using these transfers politically—either to deploy loyal cadre-aligned teachers or to penalise outspoken, non-conforming professors by sending them to remote districts. Professors managing ongoing research projects, laboratory setups, or supervising PhD scholars fear transfers will derail long-term research work, endanger grants, and disrupt scholars’ progress. Faculty bodies have also expressed apprehensions that state-controlled transfer powers could be used politically as punitive measures against dissent or outspoken academic critics. They can be transferred to any govt colleges or education directorate. Outstanding teachers of various govt colleges used to opt for university service in open post to avoid transfer. Another senior professor highlighted that this move would promote privatisation, as state universities will lose their stability by transferring teachers from one university to another. And what about the research lab under each professor? The risk of punishment transfers would likely be there, which is not a good sign for the higher education system in Bengal. ”
“Starting from Congress to Left regime till today, there is a scheme of transfer of teachers under West Bengal Education Service.