West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Act, 2017
No: 7 Dated: Mar, 22 2017
THE WEST BENGAL UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES (ADMINISTRATION AND REGULATION) ACT, 2017
West Bengal Act VII of 2017
An Act to provide better administration and to improve the quality of education in the State-aided higher education institutions in West Bengal and for such other matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
Whereas, it is considered necessary and expedient to improve the functioning of the State-aided Universities and Government-aided colleges of West Bengal, and to bring about a certain uniformity and standardisation in the rules, practices and procedures of these educational institutions, and to ensure efficient and optimum utilisation of the resources at their disposal, and to clearly define the rights and duties of the various stakeholders as well as address their service and welfare-related issues, and to bring in greater responsibility, transparency and accountability among the managements and employees of the said Publicly-funded higher education institutions while respecting their need for institutional-autonomy, and to effect a synergistic functioning among the State Government, the State-aided Universities and Government-aided colleges so as to achieve an efficient and vibrant higher education system, and for such other matters connected therewith and incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted as follows :-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Act, 2017.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force on such date or dates as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Application of the Act. - This Act shall apply:-
(i) to all Universities established by or under any Act of the State Legislature and are receiving financial assistance from the State Government in any form; and
(ii) to all colleges including Colleges run by minorities, subject to specific provisions and exceptions made under this Act, and the provisions of the Cor-3stitution of India and which are receiving financial assistance on a regular basis from the State Government through the Pay Packet Scheme.
3. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires;-
(i) "academic year" comprises of a period throughout which academic instruction is being given to a student in a particular Calendar year;
(ii) "actual income" in relation to a college, means the income actually realized by a college by way of tuition fees, fines and other charges from the students, by whatever name called;
(iii) "affiliated" in relation to a college, means affiliated to a University;
(iv) "Administrator" means an administrator of a college appointed by the State Government or by the affiliating University;
(v) "appointing authority" shall, for the purpose of this Act mean, the authority empowered to make appointment of any person in any post in any college or in any University in a prescribed manner;
(vi) "college" means a Government-aided college but shall not include a private or self-financing college;
(vii) "college authority" means the Governing Body or the Managing Committee or any other body, by whatever name called, charged with the management of the affairs of the college and shall include an Administrator for the purpose of this Act;
(viii) "Service commission" means the West Bengal college Service Commission constituted under the West Bengal College Service Commission Act, 2012 and such other Service Commission as may be constituted by the State Government;
(ix) "Director of Public Instruction" means the Director of Public Instruction, West Bengal, as appointed by the State Government, by order;
(x) "employee" means the employee of a college or a university including teachers, librarians, officers and non-teaching staffs;
(xi) "fee" means all fees including tuition fee and other charges, by whatever description called;
(xii) "Governing Body" means the Governing Body of a college duly constituted as per the prescribed procedure, and includes any managing committee or any other body for that purpose;
(xiii) "Government-aided college" means a college receiving grants from the state Government under the pay packet Scheme irrespective of the fact that the administration of such a college is run by a minority, but does not include a Government College;
(xiv) "Minority college" means a college which is run and administered by a minority, whether based on religion or language, declared and approved as such by the State Government or any other appropriate authority, as the case may be;
(xv) "Non-teaching employee" means an employee appointed in a sanctioned post of a college or of a University not holding any teaching post or officer's post;
(xvi) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules, orders, notifications made by the State Government under this Act;
(xvii) "Principal" means the Principal of a college and includes a Vice-principal or a Teacher-in-Charge for the purposes of this Act;
(xviii) "Pay Packet Scheme" means the scheme of the State Government for the purpose of releasing periodical salaries and allowances to the teachers and other employees of a college in such manner as may be prescribed;
(xix) "State Government" means the Government of West Bengal in the Higher Education, Science and Technology and Biotechnology Department;
(xx) "Students' Body or Union" means duly-constituted students' body or union, as the case may be, of a college or of a University;
(xxi) "Teacher of a college" means a Principal, an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor holding a sanctioned teaching post in a college and includes Librarian and Graduate Laboratory Instructor and such other posts as may be determined by the state Government from time to time;
(xxii) "Teacher of a University" means an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, holding a sanctioned teaching post including Librarians in a university and such other posts as may be determined by the State Government from time to time;
(xxiii) "University" means a University constituted by an Act of State Legislature and receiving regular financial assistance from the State Government;
(xxiv) "vice-Principal" means a person, who shall discharge the functions of the Principal in his absence, and to be appointed as such of the State Government from amongst the teacher of college in such manner and on such terms and conditions, as may be prescribed.