Presi faces hurdles to become univ

Updated on: Saturday, March 20, 2010

Kolkata: Presidency College will inch closer to becoming a university when the bill is placed before the Assembly on Friday. But the road ahead is not without hurdles — with the opposition keen on having the bill scrutinised by experts.

At the Assembly’s business advisory committee meeting on Thursday, Congress and Trinamool wanted the Bill to be sent to select committee for scrutiny, which was turned down. A standing committee has already deliberated on the bill.

As the Left Front has the requisite numbers, the Opposition is divided on how to tackle the situation once the Bill is passed by the Assembly. While Trinamool has decided to knock the governor’s door to make itself heard, Congress will place an amendment on the bill.

Ironically, the Presidency University Bill 2009 will be discussed in the assembly on the same day that a motion will be moved for leave of the house to withdraw the contentious West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, which had also been opposed by Congress and Trinamool.

The Presidency bill was introduced in the assembly on Dec 15 and referred to the standing committee on higher education. On Wednesday, state higher education minister Sudarsan Raychaudhuri met speaker Hashim Abdul Halim. Raychaudhuri is keen to see the Bill passed in the current assembly session.

“We are not opposed to the Bill. Our main contention is that Presidency College’s status should be enhanced through the right measures. Why not present it in the next half of the session? We are going to seek an amendment,” said Manas Bhunia, Congress Legislature Party leader.

Both Opposition parties cite the land reforms amendment bill as an instance of the government’s failure to assess the ground situation.

“We will tell the governor that the government passed the bill with brute majority. We will request him not to pass it. The governor is well within his rights to do that. An expert committee should be formed and their views considered before forming the university,” said Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition.

Both Congress and Trinamool are united in their opposition to the formation of the court among other matters. “Will Presidency be turned into another CPM office? If it has to be a centre of excellence then we cannot allow this,” Bhunia said.

Chatterjee also accused the standing committee of trying to impose its decision. “The committee states that the formalities should be completed in time so that the university can take off from the academic session of 2010-2011. The same committee has said that UGC and union government need to be moved for funds to be available to create infrastructural facilities at the earliest. Why hasn’t there been any decision on the land and funds needed to set up a university?” Chatterjee questioned.

Syed Md Masih, the government chief whip, said that the Opposition demand wasn’t justified. “If they wanted the Bill to be recommended to select committee, they should have said so at the standing committee meeting itself,” Masih said.

The controversy over the dissenting voice has, however, helped the Opposition to earn the right to give dissent note at the standing committee itself. The decision was agreed upon at the business advisory committee meeting. On March 24, the rules committee will meet to ratify the decision.

Presi faces hurdles to become univ

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