Out of 134 votes cast by faculty members, 113 wanted the V-C’s exit, according to the teachers of BESU Teachers' Association (BESUTA). Fourteen votes went in favour of the Banerjee and seven votes were disqualified.
“The referendum shows that 84 per cent of the faculty members are against the V-C, from the very beginning of his tenure. Banerjee never took the teachers into confidence and thus, the situation on the campus went from bad to worse,” BESUTA president Sugata Pal. During the mid-semester examination in the university, the teachers had not cooperated with the administration by not taking part in the examination process.
However, when contacted, the registrar, Biman Bandopadhyay, said: “Such a process has no scope in the university. The V-C or is an appointee of the Governor and some teachers cannot decide on his fate in this way.” The V-C could not be contacted.
Meanwhile, students of the university have started a relay hunger strike from today.
Five students began the fast from 10 am and a new set of five students will take over from them at 10 am tomorrow. The students belong to the Independent Consolidation (IC) camp.