Kolkata: The state on Tuesday informed Calcutta High Court that it had advised holding elections in colleges and universities, but the institutions' authorities did not take the initiative. The division bench directed the petitioners to scrutinise whether the state colleges and universities need to be made a party in the PIL, as suggested by the state counsel.
The matter will be taken up for hearing in the third week of Nov. The state's counsel, Kalyan Banerjee, told division bench of justices Sujoy Paul and Smita Das De that even though VCs were informed, they did not take any action.
He submitted that the higher education department issued a circular in 2015 and in 2016 for holding the election. In the 2016 notice, it was mentioned that by a 2013 circular, it was prescribed that "the Students' Union elections across the state be held during a fixed time window (Nov to Jan) and that the whole exercise, led by the vice-chancellors, be held in close consultation with the district/local administrative authorities". | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataEarlier, Banerjee argued that many state varsities do not have permanent VCs. It was also stated that the state's role in this was limited to issuance of notification for the polls.