Kolkata, 24 August (H.S.): Professor Subha Shankar Sarkar has resigned as the head of a five-member committee constituted by Jadavpur University to investigate the recent vandalism on the campus, allegedly involving ABVP workers, a university official said on Monday.

JU Acting Registrar Selim Box Mandal said Sarkar had informed Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee that he would be unable to head the panel. The university is expected to appoint a new chairperson shortly.

Sarkar, a former Vice-Chancellor of Netaji Subhas Open University, reportedly informed the Vice-Chancellor by email on Saturday that he could not take up the assignment. Speaking to the media on Monday, he said he was currently in Delhi and that an effective inquiry would require regular interaction with people who were present on the campus during the incident.

According to Sarkar, the university authorities had suggested conducting the proceedings online, but he felt that a virtual inquiry would not be effective.

The resignation came hours before the Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, the RSS-affiliated teachers' organisation, wrote to the Vice-Chancellor opposing Sarkar's appointment as the head of the inquiry committee.

The organisation questioned his selection and cited his removal as chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission in January 2022 following proceedings before the Calcutta High Court related to alleged recruitment irregularities. It demanded that the inquiry be headed by a retired judge of the Calcutta High Court or Supreme Court to ensure an independent and transparent investigation.

The five-member committee was formed on August 21 after students, teachers and citizens demonstrated against the alleged vandalism on the university campus.

The controversy follows a clash between ABVP members and Left-leaning student groups at Jadavpur University in the early hours of August 20. Both sides have accused each other of bringing outsiders onto the campus.

The ABVP, affiliated with the RSS, alleged that members of Left student organisations, including SFI and DSO-DSF, initiated confrontations during a meeting of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union (FETSU). The Left-leaning groups, however, accused the ABVP of bringing outsiders onto the campus and engaging in vandalism.

Welcoming Sarkar's resignation, JU unit president of the teachers' organisation Bhaskar Sardar questioned his suitability to head the probe.

An ABVP spokesperson also welcomed the development and alleged that Sarkar was not suitable to lead an inquiry into the incident. The allegations made by the different groups remain part of the ongoing dispute and have not been independently established.

Jadavpur University is now expected to appoint a new chairperson to oversee the investigation into the campus incident.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey