Kerala VC appointments standoff: Supreme Court asks Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia-led panel to finalise candidates

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the stalemate between the Kerala government and the Governor of Kerala over the appointment of Vice-Chancellors to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Digital University has gone on for too long despite its best efforts to resolve the dispute [The Chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University vs. State of Kerala and Ors.].

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan today directed a court-appointed committee headed by retired Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia to submit one name who could be appointed as the Vice Chancellor for each university in a sealed cover by next week.

The Court was hearing the Governor’s plea relating to the appointment of regular Vice-Chancellors to the two universities. The matter has been pending amid continued disagreement between the Governor, who serves as Chancellor, and the State government.

At the outset, Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Governor, sought to hand over a sealed envelope containing a letter from the Chancellor to the Chief Minister. The Bench, however, declined to examine it and said it would not enter into that aspect of correspondence.

The Court made it clear that it was more concerned with ending the deadlock than examining letters exchanged between the constitutional authorities.

“We will not get into all this. We want to have a look at the committee report,” the Bench said.

The Attorney General informed the Court that the committee had earlier recommended four to five names for both universities.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the State of Kerala, then submitted that the Law Minister and the Higher Education Minister had met the Chancellor to convey the government’s stand. He said the Chief Minister had only raised an objection against one candidate, who had earlier served as a temporary Vice-Chancellor and allegedly disrupted the functioning of the university.

The Attorney General countered that the State’s objection was to a candidate who had, in fact, pointed out irregularities in the university’s audit.

Justice Pardiwala noted that if the woman had been found eligible for appointment to both universities, at least one appointment could go ahead.

“The lady who is found eligible for both universities... At least go ahead with her in one of the universities,” he said.

Gupta responded that the Chief Minister had no objection to any other name except the one objected to. He said that she had “completely disrupted” the administration when she was temporarily in charge.

The Bench sought clarification from the State, asking in what manner the candidate had allegedly disrupted the functioning of the university.

Gupta said that as per procedure, the names recommended by the search committee were to be placed before the Chief Minister for approval before finalisation.

After hearing both sides, the Bench observed that the stalemate had persisted despite the committee having already completed its exercise. The Court noted that its earlier expectation that the Chief Minister and the Chancellor would reach a consensus, had not materialised.

In its order, the Court recorded that the committee led by Justice Dhulia had completed the selection process and that correspondence between the Governor and the Chief Minister had only led to further delay.

“Despite the best of our efforts, the deadlock continues till this date. The Chancellor and the Chief Minister have not been able to reach any consensus for appointment of Vice-Chancellors in the two universities. The entire exercise has been undertaken by the committee constituted by us headed by Justice Dhulia,” the Court noted.

The Bench said it would not peruse the letter handed over in the sealed envelope by the Attorney General and instead directed the Justice Dhulia committee to examine both the Chief Minister’s letter and the Chancellor’s reply before recommending one final name for each university.

“We request the committee headed by Justice Dhulia to look into the letter of the Chief Minister and the reply of the Chancellor and give us one composite report. The committee shall submit one name for each university in a sealed cover by next Thursday,” the order stated

The matter will be taken up next on December 18.

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