Kerala Governor moves SC, seeks chief minister's exclusion in VC selection process

NEW DELHI: Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking the exclusion of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from the selection process of Vice Chancellors for the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the Kerala Digital University. Governor, who is also the Chancellor of both the state-run universities, said neither of the universities envisioned any role for the chief minister in the selection process.

The plea highlighted the role of chief minister in the entire selection process for appointment of VCs for the two universities and referred to "State of West Bengal v. Dr Sanat Kumar Ghosh and Others" the directions of which had been applied in the present case. Section 8 (1) of the Calcutta University Act, 1979 provided there will be a role of the minister of the state in the selection process there, the plea added.

“Since the minister is a part of the selection process in the appointment of Vice Chancellors in the State of West Bengal, this court made the Chief Minister a part of the said process," Governor said. However, it pointed out the university enactments -- the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University Act and the Kerala Digital University Act -- had no provision for having the minister for higher education or the state government as a part of the selection process for recommendation for appointment of VCs.

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CM's role in selection of VC

"Therefore, in the humble submission of the application the role of CM for selection of VCs as mentioned in the order dated August 18, may be modified by this court,” the plea sought. On August 18, the top court appointed former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as the Chairperson of the committee for selecting Vice Chancellors in the two universities and said the CM had a role in their selection.

The plea, however, contended the chief minister’s involvement would violate the principle against “a person judging his own cause,” a norm embedded in the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations.

“The Chief Minister being the Executive Head of the State is connected with the number of government colleges, managed by the government and affiliated to the university. Therefore, as per UGC Regulations he cannot have any role whatsoever in the appointment of Vice Chancellors,” the application said.

Vice-chancellor appointment

Governor said he was not seeking the modifications of the August 18 order with regard to appointment of former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as chairperson of the search-cum-selection committee tasked with finalising the VC appointments and “no objection” to the judge heading the committee.

The plea, however, said Governor was opposed to the participation of nominees suggested by the state government. Governor said “the panel of the names of selected candidates shall be submitted by the search-cum-selection committee to the Chancellor with the names arranged in their alphabetical order and the prerogative to select the Vice Chancellor will be with the Chancellor” while seeking the August 18 order's modification.

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“Court may direct the inclusion of a nominee of the chairman of the UGC as a member in the search-cum-selection committee for the selection of the Vice Chancellor, which has been constituted by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia…,” it added.

Temporary appointment of VC unsustainable

A division bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed writ petitions challenging a single judge’s verdict that declared the temporary appointments of Vice-Chancellors at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala Digital University as unsustainable. The appeals were filed by the Chancellor and others, against the May 19 judgment which said the appointments were made without following proper legal procedure.

The controversy began after the Chancellor appointed two persons -- Ciza Thomas to the Kerala Digital University and K Sivaprasad to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University -- to the temporary posts of VC through notifications issued on November 27, 2024.

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Appointment did not comply with the UGC regulations

These appointments were made under the respective university Acts, citing powers to fill the post for a maximum of six months in the absence of a regular VC. However, the state government challenged the appointments, arguing that they did not follow the procedure laid down in the Acts -- which require a panel of names to be recommended by the government -- and did not comply with University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.

The high court bench comprising Justices Anil K Narendran and P V Balakrishnan upheld the single judge's ruling, agreeing the notifications lacked a legal backing.