New Delhi, May 27 (IANS): Hitting out at the West Bengal government's decision to have the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of all state universities instead of the Governor, the BJP on Friday said that Mamata Banerjee's decision is an attempt to evade accountability and transparency.

The BJP also alleged that the move was intended to distract from the SSC scam and cover up gross irregularities in the Universities.

Co-incharge West Bengal BJP Amit Malviya tweeted, "Mamata Banerjee's decision to replace the Governor as Chancellor of state Universities with the CM is an attempt to evade accountability and transparency. The move is intended to distract from the SSC scam and cover up gross irregularities in the Universities. CM is paranoid."

"It is not just an assault on federalism but a brazen attempt to foist people with inadequate credentials as Vice Chancellors, who are expected to politicise education. Several appointments made by the WB Govt, in gross violation of regulations, are already facing legal challenge," Malviya said.

The West Bengal cabinet on Thursday decided to have the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of all state universities instead of the Governor. This is for the first time that the state government has taken such an initiative to break the protocol, persisting since Independence, of having the Governor as Chancellor of the state universities.

Following the state cabinet meeting at the state Secretariat, Nabanna, Education Minister Bratya Basu said that the state government will bring a Bill in the Assembly proposing that the Chief Minister, not the Governor, will be the Chancellor of the state universities.

The development comes at a time when the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress is already in a fix over the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe on the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities where two ministers of the state government have already been grilled by the central agency sleuths.