President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday approved the sacking of vice chancellor of Visva-Bharati University Sushanta Dattagupta, on grounds of gross misconduct and dereliction of his duties. The proposal to remove Dattagupta had come from the Human Resource Development ministry in September last year, The Indian Express reported. This is the first-ever sacking of a vice chancellor of a central university. Dattagupta was appointed in September 2011 by the United Progressive Alliance government.

A committee had found Dattagupta guilty on four counts, including making 25 illegal appointments, drawing a pension from Jawaharlal Nehru University as well as a salary ​from Visva-Bharati University, and getting liquor bills reimbursed. The President was reportedly unwilling to sack Dattagupta and returned the proposal to the ministry in November. After getting a second opinion from the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the ministry did not relent and returned the proposal to sack Dattagupta to Mukherjee’s office. The vice chancellor had offered his resignation by then, but a resignation would absolve him of the wrongdoings he had committed. The HRD ministry’s proposal was also vetted by the Law ministry.

Dattagupta had eight months left on his term. The investigation was initiated when Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, P Bhattacharya, raised allegations against Dattagupta.