The West Bengal Government College Teachers Association (WBGCTA), which says the move to bring in a Bill to this effect is an emotional one and not logical, has about 1,400 members in 36 government colleges, including nearly 150 in the Presidency.

The association now wants a university comprising all the 36 government colleges where Presidency College will take a lead role, and not a unitary university as proposed in the Bill.

“The chief minister may have discussed the issue with the association but its nearly three-decade old demand for a university status was not taken into account,” said an office-bearer of the association.

Of the 36 colleges, four are physical education colleges, seven are for teachers’ training, one is art and crafts college, six teach engineering while the rest 18 are general degree colleges. Of the 18, eight are more than 100 years old.

Shyamal Basak, the general secretary of the association, claimed colleges in Cooch Behar, Jhargram and Darjeeling have been demanding a university status, which cannot be overlooked.

“We have no objection to Presidency being upgraded to a university, but the interest of other government colleges like Hooghly Moshin College, Sanskit College, Bethune College, Lady Brabourne College and others cannot be sacrificed for Presidency,” said Basak.

“On September 16, the matter for upgrading the college into a unitary university was raised in the teachers’ council and the proposal could not be passed. There were deliberations for over four hours. Later, the college management passed the proposal in the governing body on November 3,” said a representative of the association, which is up against the state administration and even the chief minister for giving nod to the proposal for Presidency.