New Delhi: Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Tuesday approached 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.
The Governor, who serves as Chancellor of both state-run universities, said neither university enactment envisioned a role for the chief minister in the VC selection process. The plea highlighted the chief minister’s involvement in the ongoing selection for appointments of VCs for the two universities and referred to the Supreme Court ruling in State of West Bengal v. Dr Sanat Kumar Ghosh and Others, which had been applied in the present case. Section 8(1) of the Calcutta University Act, 1979, provides a role for the state minister in VC appointments, the plea noted.
“Since the minister is part of the selection process in West Bengal, the court there made the Chief Minister part of the process. However, the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University Act and Kerala Digital University Act have no provision for the state government or the higher education minister to participate in VC recommendations,” the plea stated. It urged the court to modify the August 18 order to remove the CM from the selection process.
On August 18, the Supreme Court had appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as Chairperson of the committee selecting Vice Chancellors for the two universities, while noting that the Chief Minister had a role in the selection. The Governor’s plea argued that the CM’s involvement would violate the principle against “a person judging his own cause,” a norm embedded in University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations. “The Chief Minister, being the executive head of the state, is connected with numerous government colleges managed by the state and affiliated to the university. As per UGC regulations, he cannot have any role in VC appointments,” the application said.
The Governor clarified that he was not seeking changes to the appointment of Justice Dhulia as committee chairperson and had “no objection” to the judge heading the search-cum-selection committee. However, he opposed the participation of nominees suggested by the state government. The plea proposed that the committee submit the panel of selected candidates to the Chancellor in alphabetical order, with the Chancellor having the sole prerogative to appoint the VC. It also suggested including a nominee of the UGC chairman in the committee.
The controversy follows a Kerala High Court ruling dismissing writ petitions challenging a single judge’s verdict that declared temporary VC appointments at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala Digital University as unsustainable. The appointments, made by the Chancellor, Ciza Thomas at Kerala Digital University and K Sivaprasad at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, were notified on November 27, 2024, to fill posts for a maximum of six months under the respective university Acts in the absence of regular VCs.
The state government challenged these appointments, arguing they did not follow the procedure in the Acts, which require the government to recommend a panel of names, and did not comply with UGC regulations. A High Court division bench comprising Justices Anil K Narendran and P V Balakrishnan upheld the single judge’s ruling, agreeing that the notifications lacked legal backing.
With PTI inputs