Taking a step forward to ensure transparency in university governance,t he state government has urged the universities to implement the Public Service Act,under which the universities will have to inform the students about the stipulated time for the issue of admit card, publication of results, issue of migration certificate and so on. Talking to the media on the sidelines of a programme, Partha Chatterjee, state education minister said, “The university will have to ensure that the students get the necessary services required from an institution.

Admit cards should be issued and results published within the stipulated time, otherwise legal action may be taken.” A meeting was convened by the principal secretary with the vice-chancellors of the universities in the month of June in this regard where they were asked to implement the Act, sources in the higher education department said. Jadavpur University was the only one among the varsities which had promptly responded to the request of the state government and implemented the service within a short while.

Talking to The Statesman, Prof. Suranjan Das said, “We had implemented the service right after getting the notification from the state government. I appreciate the effort of the government and hope that it will definitely improve the administration of the university and ensure swifter delivery of services.” Presidency University has recently implemented the Act for the benefit of its student, while other universities like Calcutta University are yet to follow suit. Soma Banerjee, registrar of Calcutta University, said that the process is under way and that the students will soon be able to avail the benefits. A senior professor in Calcutta University, however, pointed out that the university has many campuses and departments spread across the city and it will take more time to make the services available to all the students.

The Public Service Act, 2013 established the right of the citizen for clear identification of services, authorities responsible for delivering such services within the bureaucratic hierarchy, and accountability of its different layers. A similar pattern is there in the case of the universities as well where the designated officers will be held responsible in case there is any delay in providing the service. Elaborating on this, the vice chancellor of the West Bengal State University, Prof.Basab Choudhury said, “There are designated officers for these services.If the service is not provided within the said the said time period, a complaint can be lodged.”

Citing an example, Prof. Choudhury further added, “If the controller of the examination is the designated officer in charge of publication of results and he fails to publish the result within the stipulated time, complaints can be made to the registrar.If the registrar fails to reply then the complain will directly go to the vice-chancellor, who will accordingly take action.” Meanwhile, the education minister has assured that the process of recruiting teachers will be completed within this year.