The Nitish Kumar government appeared to be heading for a showdown with Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as the Raj Bhavan reversed an order of the state administration to freeze bank accounts of two officials of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur.

IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo

The state education department on Thursday stopped the salaries of the vice chancellor and pro-VC for their alleged failure in inspecting the educational institutions under their jurisdiction and also for not attending a review meeting convened by the department, a senior official of the department said on condition of anonymity.

A day later, Robert L Chongthu, Principal Secretary to the governor, sent a letter to the bank concerned, directing it to defreeze the accounts of the two officials with immediate effect.

In a letter to the education department, Chongthu said, "Under Section 54 of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976, the state government has power to audit the universities, but your act to freeze the financial powers and bank accounts of both the office bearers is arbitrary and beyond jurisdiction. This act of yours seems to be an attack on autonomy of the university and you have encroached upon the powers of the chancellor."

The chancellor (governor) has ordered that 'these orders may be withdrawn and these types of unwarranted acts may be avoided in future', it stated.

The incident has triggered a political slugfest, with the ruling alliance slamming the 'interference of the governor' and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party coming in support of the Raj Bhavan, while holding the Nitish Kumar government responsible for 'collapse of education system' in the state.

Rashtriya Janata Dal's spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary told PTI, "The Mahagathbandhan government in the state is trying to improve the quality of education, including higher education. The Raj Bhavan should not intervene with the functioning of an elected government and should avoid such confrontations."

Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said, "Since Nitish Kumar has miserably failed in improving the state's education system, he is now creating a situation of showdown with the governor who is also the chancellor of the universities. The CM is ignoring autonomy of universities and colleges."