Supreme Court sets aside appointment of Dr. Rajasree MS as Vice Chancellor of Kerala's APJ Abdul Kalam University

The Supreme Court last week set aside the appointment of Dr. Rajasree MS as Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram [Professor (Dr) Sreejith PS v Dr Rajasree MS & Ors.]..A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar noted that even though the State Universities Act as well as the University Grants Commission rules require the the Search Committee to propose three names for selection as VC to the Governor (who is also the Chancellor), only one name had been sent in this case. " ... when only one name was recommended and the panel of names was not recommended, the Chancellor had no option to consider the names of the other candidates. Therefore, the appointment of the respondent No. 1 (Dr. Rajashree MS) can be said to be dehors and/or contrary to the provisions of the UGC Regulations as well as even to the University Act, 2015 ... the appointment of respondent No. 1 can be said to be illegal and void ab initio, and, therefore, the writ of quo warranto [to quash their appointment] was required to be issued," the judgment stated..The petitioner, professor Dr Sreejith PS, had moved the present appeal before the top court challenging Kerala High Court order that had refused to issue a writ of quo warranto quashing the VC's appointment. Before the High Court, the appellant had argued that the selection for the post was made in violation of UGC Regulations as only one name was proposed. The State government had argued that the State's regulations/law will prevail as the UGC regulations were only directory in nature. The High Court in its order dismissing the writs had cited the decision of the apex court in Kalyanji Mathivanan Vs. K.V. Jeyaraj & Ors. to hold that unless the UGC Regulations are specifically adopted by a State government, the State's legislation will prevail..The top court at the outset, relying on its decision in Gambhirdan K. Gadhvi vs State of Gujarat where a writ of quo warranto was issued to set aside a VC appointment, said that the appointment Vice Chancellors shall always be done as per the provisions of the UGC Regulations at the time. " ... any appointment as a Vice Chancellor made on the recommendation of the Search Committee, which is constituted contrary to the provisions of the UGC Regulations shall be void ab initio. If there is any conflict between the State legislation and the Union legislation, the Union law shall prevail even as per Article 254 of the Constitution of India to the extent the provision of the State legislation is repugnant," the Court said.In the present case, the Court noted that the search committee was not duly constituted as per UGC norms since it only proposed one name rather than proposing a list of 3-5 names considering the necessary criteria. Allowing the appeals, the top court quashed and set aside the High Court order, deeming the appointment of the respondent, Dr Rajashree MS, void ab initio (void from the beginning). "There shall be a writ of quo warranto declaring the appointment of the respondent No. 1 as Vice Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Thiruvananthapuram as void ab initio and consequently, the appointment of respondent No. 1 as Vice Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Thiruvananthapuram is quashed and set aside," the judgment stated.Advocate Amit George appeared for the appellant. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta appeared for the Kerala government while advocate PV Dinesh appeared for Dr. Rajasree MS..Subsequent developments.Pursuant to the Supreme Court ruling the Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan sent letters to the VCs of nine universities in Kerala, directing them to hand in their resignations by 11:00 am on Monday.Single-judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice Devan Ramachandran, in a special sitting convened on Diwali (Monday), a court holiday, considered the petitions moved by the VCs challenging the Governor's direction..The Kerala High Court subsequently held that the letter issued Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was no longer valid since the Governor himself later issued show-cause notices asking the VCs for their response.The High Court, therefore, stated that the VCs can continue in their posts till the Governor passes a final order, after following the procedure under law."It doesn't require this court to say that no one can be forced to resign and interestingly it was submitted that it was not an order but only an advise. This court cannot confirm the same and the communication has to fail," the High Court ordered.However, the High Court made it clear that every issue, including the jurisdiction of the chancellor, is left open..[Read Judgment]