On Sunday, Bihar Raj Bhavan took decisive action by instructing banks to overturn an order from the education department that had frozen the accounts of state-run universities, with the exception of one.
This action was prompted by allegations that vice-chancellors of these universities had failed to attend a critical review meeting convened by the education department.
As tensions between Raj Bhavan and the education department escalated, authorities escalated the situation by filing a police complaint against at least one of the vice-chancellors on Sunday.
Robert L Chongthu, principal secretary to the governor and also the chancellor of state universities, promptly directed banks to unfreeze the accounts of the universities. In a letter, it was stated, "The chancellor (governor) has ordered that the orders of the education department stand withdrawn." A copy of this directive is in possession of PTI.
Previously, the education department had issued an order freezing the bank accounts of all state-run universities except one, and had withheld salaries of their vice-chancellors for purportedly skipping a review meeting held by the education department in late February.
The department's letter to all vice-chancellors, except the VC of Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, demanded explanations for their absence from the meeting to address pending examinations and other matters.
The letter cautioned that if satisfactory responses were not received within two days, FIRs would be filed against the authorities, and vice-chancellors' salaries would continue to be withheld. Additionally, banks were instructed not to conduct any transactions on university accounts until further notice.
In a letter also sent to examination controllers of all universities except Magadh University and Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Education Secretary Baidyanath Yadav expressed strong dissatisfaction with the vice-chancellors' absence, asserting that they had failed to fulfill their duties as public servants.
Meanwhile, Samar Bahadur Singh, the Darbhanga District Education Officer, submitted an application to the University Police station seeking a police complaint against the vice-chancellor, examination controller, and other officials for their failure to attend the recent meeting called by the education department.
Despite numerous attempts to contact him, Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary was unavailable for comment on the issue.
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