Subhro Kamal Mukherjee

Last updated

Krishna Mukherjee
(m. 1981)
Subhro Kamal Mukherjee
Justice SKM.jpg
Vice-Chancellor of the Rabindra Bharati University (acting)
Assumed office
7 July 2023
Children2
Alma mater University of Calcutta

Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee (born 10 October 1955, in Bhagalpur) is a former chief justice of the High Court of Karnataka and the current[ when? ] vice-chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University in India. [2] He was a justice from February 2016 to October 2017 and joined Rabindra Bharati University as Interim vice-chancellor in July 2023. The Governor of West Bengal appointed him interim vice-chancellor of Presidency University, Kolkata, in September 2023. [3]

Contents

Background

Mukherjee comes from a family of lawyers and is a sixth-generation lawyer. [4] He completed his Master of Arts in history and LLB from Calcutta University. He joined the Calcutta High Court as an advocate in 1982 practicing mainly in civil and writ matters. [1]

Judicial career

Mukherjee was appointed a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court on 15 September 2000. He was transferred to Karnataka High Court on 15 April 2015. [5] Upon transfer of the then chief justice, Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela, to Odisha High Court, [6] he was appointed the acting chief justice of Karnataka High Court on 1 June 2015. [7] He took the oath as the chief justice on 23 February 2016. His oath was administered by the governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Vala. [4]

Controversies

In 2017, the Bar Council of Karnataka sought action against Mukherjee after he commented that Tipu Sultan was not a freedom fighter, but a monarch who fought to safeguard his interests. On his retirement as chief justice, he was not accorded the customary farewell following a resolution passed by the Karnataka State Bar Council. [8]

Mukherjee's appointment by Governor C. V. Ananda Bose as the vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University and Presidency University took place amidst centre-state tensions between the governor and the government of West Bengal. The West Bengal education minister, Bratya Basu, said, "The Governor's recent action is aimed at bankrupting the higher education system. He is destroying the statutes of respective state universities. Such appointments have been made without consulting anybody. He is acting in a dictatorial manner." [9]

In August 2023, Mukherjee stopped going to his office in Rabindra Bharati University "out of fear" after a section of staff members accused him of consuming alcohol inside his office. Mukherjee denied the allegation and claimed that it was he who was abused by the staff members of the university. [10]

In September 2023, the student organisations Independents' Consolidation and Students' Federation of India expressed scepticism over Mukherjee's appointment as Presidency University vice chancellor. The student bodies alleged interference by the union government in university appointments and raised questions over his lack of academic qualifications to head a university. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Calcutta</span> Public university in Kolkata, India

The University of Calcutta is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate colleges and 16 institutes in Kolkata and nearby areas. It was established on 24 January 1857 and is the oldest multidisciplinary university of Indian Subcontinent and South East Asian Region. Today, the university's jurisdiction is limited to a few districts of West Bengal, but at the time of its establishment it had a catchment area ranging from Kabul to Myanmar. Within India, it is recognized as a "Five-Star University" and accredited an "A" grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabindra Bharati University</span> Public university in Kolkata, India

Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. It is located at the Tagore family home, Jorasanko Thakur Bari. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Performing Arts and Visual Arts under the Faculty of Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and other subjects under the Faculty of Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency University, Kolkata</span> Public university in Kolkata, India

Presidency University, Kolkata is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. It was among the best colleges in the country when the institute was affiliated to University of Calcutta. The institution was elevated to university status in 2010 after functioning as a constituent college of the University of Calcutta for about 193 years. Currently, it continues to rank among the top universities in India. The University boasts an illustrious list of extraordinary alumni over the last two centuries, including several pioneers of the Bengal Renaissance, leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, heads of state, noble laureates, Academy Award winner etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashutosh Mukherjee</span> Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician (1864-1924)

Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was a prolific Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician. He was the first student to be awarded a dual degree from Calcutta University. Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability. The second Indian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta for four consecutive two-year terms (1906–1914) and a fifth two-year term (1921–23), Mukherjee was responsible for the foundation of the Bengal Technical Institute in 1906, which was later known as Jadavpur University and the University College of Science of the Calcutta University in 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences</span> Law university in Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences is a National Law University (NLU) located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. In 2023, it was ranked 4th among law colleges in India by National Institutional Ranking Framework and 2nd by India Today. It comes under the exclusive chancellorship and purview of the [Chief Justice of India].

Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unparalleled in recent times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siddhartha Shankar Ray</span> Indian politician and lawyer (1920–2010)

Siddhartha Shankar Ray was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77), Union Minister of Education (1971–72), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patha Bhavana, Santiniketan</span> School associated with Visva-Bharati University

Patha Bhavana is an institution of primary and secondary education in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. Founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1901, starting with only five students, the school is characterized by its philosophy of learning with the heart in closeness to nature without any superficial barriers between teachers and students, as opposed to the strict, repetitive and the rote learning system that was mainstream during Tagore's childhood. Often referred to as an ashram system, initially what started out as this school, later grew into what is now Visva-Bharati University. It is one of the two primary and secondary school affiliated with the Visva-Bharati University; the other being Siksha Satra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratap Chandra Chunder</span> Indian politician

Pratap Chandra Chunder was a union minister of India, educationist and author. He served in the Morarji Desai Ministry as a cabinet minister with education and social welfare portfolios.

Rajat Kanta Ray is a historian of South Asian history, specializing in Modern Indian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bikash Sinha</span> Indian physicist (1945–2023)

Bikash Sinha was an Indian physicist who was active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and the chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur in June 2005. He was also a member of scientific advisory board to the Prime Minister of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altamas Kabir</span> 39th Chief Justice of India

Altamas Kabir was an Indian lawyer and judge who served as the 39th Chief Justice of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narkeldanga High School</span> School in Kolkata, India

Narkeldanga High School, India, is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata. Shree Rakhal Chandra Ghosh, a man noted for his social work during the Bengali Renaissance, started the school in his house in 1862. Later it was primarily owing to the efforts of Sir Gurudas Bandyopadhyay, the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, that Narikeldanga High School became an institution of secondary standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azizul Haque (educator)</span> Indian lawyer and Muslim activist

Sir Muhammad Azizul Haque, KCSI, CIE, also known as Muhammad Azizul Huq or Mohammad Azizul Huque, was a Bengali lawyer, writer and public servant. He studied at Presidency College and University Law College in Calcutta. He worked to better the condition of Muslim people, primarily in the rural farmlands. This led him to work with Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque, Sir Abdulla Suhrawardy, Sir Salimullah and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He remained friends with many throughout his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Jadavpur University protests</span> 2014 student protests of Jadavpur University

The Hok Kolorob Movement or the 2014 Jadavpur University student protest, was a four-month long series of protests by the students of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India that began on 3 September 2014. The term "Hok Kolorob" was originally the title of a song by Bangladeshi singer Arnob, written by Rajib Ashraf, and began to be used as a hashtag on Facebook.

Pratul Chandra Gupta was an Indian historian, writer and the author of Nana Sahib and the Rising at Cawnpore, a historical account of the siege of Cawnpore. Considered by many as an authority on Maratha history, he translated The Maharashta Purana, an 18th-century Bengali text written by Gangaram into English, Edward C. Dimock, a known Indologist, being his co-translator. One of his books, INA in Military Operation, was commissioned by Jawaharlal Nehru but the book could not be published, reportedly due to political objections. The Last Peshwa and the English Commissioners, 1818-1851 and Shah Alam II and His Court are some of his other notable works. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1975, for his contributions to Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Law, University of Calcutta</span> Department of Law

The Department of Law, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, formerly University College of Law, is a faculty in the University of Calcutta, founded in 1909, colloquially referred to as Hazra Law College, which offers undergraduate, postgraduate, doctorate and post doctorate courses. The Faculty oversees fifteen affiliated Law schools of the University.

Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee is an Indian academician who served as vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta.

References

  1. 1 2 "Hon'ble The Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee". High Court of Karnataka. Retrieved 29 November 2017.[ dead link ]
  2. "Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee sworn-in as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court". Jagran Josh. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
    - "I'm not a political person: New Rabindra Bharati University VC Kamal Mukherjee". The Economic Times. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  3. "West Bengal governor appoints interim vice-chancellors of seven universities". The Telegraph. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Mukherjee sworn in as 28th Chief Justice". The Hindu . 24 February 2016. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. P Vasantha Kumar (15 April 2015). "Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee on Wednesday took oath as a judge of Karnataka high court..Justice Mukherjee was transferred recently from the Calcutta high court". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  6. "Justice Waghela new Odisha Chief Justice". The Hindu. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  7. "Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee appointed as acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court". Jagran Josh. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  8. K.M. Rakesh (7 July 2023). "Bar association had sought action against Justice Mukherjee for his style of functioning". My Kolkata. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  9. "Mamata Banerjee battles with Governor: This time over university appointments". Firstpost. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  10. "VC on RBU: 'ভয়ে যেতে পারছি না ..', হেনস্থার অভিযোগ রবীন্দ্রভারতী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের উপাচার্যের" [Rabindra Bharati University vice-chancellor complains of harassment]. ABP (in Bengali). 29 August 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  11. Sougata Mukhopadhyay (4 September 2023). "Students sceptical as former judge takes additional charge as VC of Presidency University". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2023.