The State Higher Education Department will have a meeting with finance officers from 11 state universities at the state secretariat Nabanna on 20 September. The meeting has been called amid rising tensions between Raj Bhavan and the TMC administration over the appointment of interim vice chancellors at various state universities.

This concern emerged after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently threatened to establish economic blockades by withholding cash from state universities that follow the Governor's directions.

"We have noticed with grave concern that a calculated move has been initiated by the Higher Education Department to further confiscate whatever traces of autonomy of higher educational institutions are left at the moment...," read a joint statement issued by Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA), Calcutta University Teachers Association (CUTA), Rabindra Bharati University Teachers Association (RBUTA), West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association (WBCUTA) and others.

The meeting will focus on the state universities' human resource management system (HRMS). However, the administration did not reveal much about the meeting's agenda. There are concerns that if the HRMS is implemented, these states would lose their financial sovereignty.