Bihar Raj Bhavan overrules edu dept, tells banks to de-freeze varsities’ accounts

Patna, Mar 3 (PTI) Bihar Raj Bhavan on Sunday wrote to banks to overrule an education department order that had frozen the accounts of state-run universities, barring one.

This comes after vice-chancellors of the universities allegedly failed to attend a recent review meeting convened by the education department.

Meanwhile, the standoff between the Raj Bhavan and the education department seemed to worsen with the authorities lodging a police complaint against at least one of the VCs on Sunday.

Robert L Chongthu, principal secretary to the governor (who is also the chancellor of state universities), directed the banks to de-freeze the accounts of the universities immediately.

The letter stated, "The chancellor (governor) has ordered that the orders of the education department stands withdrawn." The a copy of the letter is with PTI.

Earlier, the education department had ordered the freezing of bank accounts of all state-run universities, except one, and withheld salaries of their vice-chancellors for allegedly being absent from a review meeting convened by the education department in late February.

The department's letter to all VCs, except the VC of Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, sought clarification on their absence from the meeting to discuss pending examinations and other issues.

The letter warned that if satisfactory replies were not received within two days, FIRs would be lodged against the authorities, and salaries of VCs would remain withheld. Additionally, banks were instructed not to operate any accounts of the universities until further notice.

Education secretary Baidyanath Yadav's letter, which was also sent to examination controllers of all universities except Magadh University and Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the VCs' absence, stating they had failed to discharge 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 VC, Examination Controller, and other officials for failing to attend the recent meeting called by the education department.

Despite attempts to reach him, Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary was unavailable for comment on the issue. PTI