The Supreme Court on Thursday directed a committee led by former judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia to recommend one candidate each for appointment as vice chancellor of two Kerala technical universities, after noting that the prolonged standoff between the chief minister and the governor has shown no signs of resolution.
The matter concerns appointments at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology. A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan asked the committee to examine the correspondence exchanged between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor-cum-Chancellor Rajendra Arlekar, and submit its recommendations in a sealed cover by next Wednesday. The court will hear the case again on December 18.
As the hearing began, Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the bench that a letter from the chancellor had been sent to the chief minister. When he attempted to hand over a sealed envelope containing the reply, the court refused to peruse it.
Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the state, said the law and higher education ministers had met the chancellor on December 10. He added that the chief minister had raised an objection to only one of the proposed names, and that the chancellor had not expressed reservations regarding the other recommendations.
However, the bench recorded that despite repeated efforts, “the chancellor and the CM have not been able to reach to any consensus” on the appointments. It noted that the only developments since the previous hearing were “some exchange of letters”.
In its order, the bench said the continued deadlock made it necessary to involve the Justice Dhulia committee further. “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. We request the committee to give us one name for each university in a sealed cover.”
The former Supreme Court judge had earlier been appointed on August 18 to lead the shortlisting exercise “to end the impasse” between the state government and the governor. He completed the task and submitted a report, which the governor had initially not considered.
On November 28, the court had expressed displeasure that the governor had not acted on the Dhulia Committee report, remarking that it was “not just an ordinary piece of paper”. He was directed to take a decision within a week.
The Kerala government had complained that the chief minister forwarded his recommendations for the two VC appointments to the chancellor based on the committee’s report, but no decision followed.
On September 2, the governor approached the Supreme Court seeking exclusion of the chief minister from the selection process, arguing that neither of the university statutes envisaged any role for him.
Meanwhile, litigation over specific appointments has continued. The chancellor has challenged a Kerala High Court division bench order which disposed of a plea against a single judge ruling that set aside the November 27, 2024 notification appointing Professor K Sivaprasad as vice chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. The state argued before the high court that the appointment notification violated Section 13(7) of the university’s governing Act, which limits such appointments to a maximum of six months.
Since July, the apex court has repeatedly urged both sides to “work out some mechanism in harmony”, and had earlier asked the Attorney General and the state’s counsel to arrive at an amicable solution. With no breakthrough emerging, the responsibility has now shifted to the Justice Dhulia panel to suggest a way forward.
