The Supreme Court on Friday cautioned that it will step in to finalise the appointment of vice chancellors for two state-run technical universities in Kerala if Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor-cum-Chancellor Rajendra Arlekar fail to arrive at a consensus by December 9.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and PB Varale was hearing the long-running dispute over the selection of vice chancellors for APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology.
The bench asked Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the governor, and senior advocate Jaideep Gupta for the chief minister, to work out a solution acceptable to both.
Venkataramani told the court that the committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had recommended two sets of names, and the chancellor selected one name from each. “The chief minister has some difficulty with some names. There are some common names,” he said.
However, Gupta pointed out that the name unacceptable to the chief minister was the only name the governor agreed on. “I think a resolution has to be found by this Court,” he told the bench.
Justice Pardiwala noted that the Dhulia committee had recommended four names each for both universities and said the governor and chief minister “should appoint the most meritorious candidates from both the batches.”
Issuing a clear deadline, the bench said: “Reach consensus by Tuesday or we will appoint the vice chancellors and resolve the issue.” The matter will be heard again on Thursday.
On November 28, the Supreme Court had taken exception to the governor “not looking” at the Dhulia panel report and observed it is “not just an ordinary piece of paper.” The court had directed that a decision be taken within a week and informed to the bench on December 5.
The report was prepared in compliance with the Supreme Court’s August 18 order, aimed at ending the impasse between Raj Bhavan and the state government. Justice Dhulia was appointed to shortlist candidates for both universities after the tussle intensified.
The dispute escalated after the Kerala government challenged the November 27, 2024 notification appointing Professor K Sivaprasad as VC of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. The notification stated that the appointment would continue “till further orders,” which the state argued contradicted Section 13(7) of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Act, 2015, that limits such appointment to a period “not exceeding six months in the aggregate.”
Earlier, the Kerala governor had moved the Supreme Court seeking exclusion of the chief minister from the VC selection process, stating the governing statutes of the two universities do not envision any such role for the state government.
The Supreme Court has now signalled that if the two constitutional authorities cannot resolve the matter, it will bring the chapter to a close by making the appointments itself.
