Kolkata, Dec. 16 -- President Droupadi Murmu has withheld assent to the Bill that sought to replace the West Bengal governor with the chief minister as chancellor of state-aided universities, an official from Kolkata Lok Bhawan, previously called Raj Bhawan, said on Monday. Besides the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022, the President also refused assent to two similar legislations - the Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022, a senior Lok Bhawan official said. "It may be noted that the principal Acts of the state-aided universities contain the provision that 'the Governor shall, by virtue of his office, be the chancellor of the university'. Hon'ble President of India has withheld assent from the above Bills," the official said in a statement. The development comes months after the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, proposing similar replacements in the northern state was returned by President Murmu without her assent in July 2024. The three West Bengal bills were passed by the legislative assembly in June 2022 but then governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, did not give his assent to the bills. Governor Bose replaced Dhankhar in 2022. In 2023, West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu said Bose should clear the bills and argued that passing of these legislations with majority in the assembly implied that chief minister was the chancellor of all state-aided universities....