'Happy Ending To This Saga' : Supreme Court Appreciates Consensus Between Kerala CM & Governor On University VC Appointments
"I hope they keep talking like this, over a mug of coffee, for the larger interest of people," Justice Pardiwala commented.
The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 18) expressed satisfaction that the Kerala Chief Minister and the Governor reached a consensus on the appointments of regular Vice Chancellors of the two prominent State universities.
Since the appointments had been stalled for months due to the disagreement between the State and the Governor, the Court had constituted a committee lead by Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia to resolve the deadlock. Since there was no resolution even after Justice Dhulia committee's intervention, the Court had last week indicated that it will make the appointments. After the Court gave that signal, the authorities agreed on the names few days ago, ahead of today's hearing.
Today(December 18), the bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan was informed that the Kerala Governor and State Government have reached a consensus. Dr Saji Gopinathan was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, and Dr Ciza Thomas was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation, and Technology.
At the outset, Attorney General R Venkataramani(for Kerala Governor) informed that the matter has been finally resolved and the decision has been communicated to Justice Dhulia. However, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta(for State Government) objected that the appointments should not have been notified when the matter was pending.
On this, Justice Pardiwala said: "Let's put an end to this. The appointments have been made." The Court expressed that its own concern was that the university should not be without the regular vice chancellors, as the rights of students were at stake.
It ordered: "Our just order dated 11 December reads thus... After our last order referred to above, there have been some positive developments. This case illustrates how a timely and decisive intervention by this Court can go in long way in protecting the rights of citizens. Two prominent universities in Kerala, dealing with cutting-edge subjects, were rudderless. They had no permanent Vice Chancellors heading them. The only reason was that a consensus was eluding the governor and the state government. When the doors of this court were knocked, we were deeply concerned about the plight of students, their parents, teaching and non-teaching staff including affiliated bodies. In short, our concern was for all the stakeholders. They were unfortunately caught in the crossfire.
Following the model adopted by this Court in a similar case which arose from the State of West Bengal, we appointed former Justice Dhulia, former judge of this Court, to be the Chairperson of the Search and Select Committee and entrusted him with the task of recommending a panel of at least three names for Vice Chancellor in two universities.
Today, we are happy to record that the chancellor and government, in one voice, reported that the appointment of the VC in the two universities have been made from the list empanelled. We place on record our gratitude to the good office of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Our endeavour was to ensure that institutions have a permanent head, which alone would ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are safeguarded. We place our appreciation to the authorities who are parties in the matter and who, in the true spirit of the Constitution, especially Article 144, have acted in aid of the orders of this Court.
By promulgating the orders of appointments, curtains have been gracefully brought down by the authorities and we also appreciate the learned attorney general R Venkataramani and also Mr Jaideep Gupta, learned senior counsel and to the entire team assisting for bringing around a very happy ending to this saga. Questions of law are kept open."
After the order was dictated, the Attorney General informed that it was the Kerala Governor who invited the Chief Minister, and then they were able to reach a consensus. "Governor thought he himself will call the Chief Minister."
Responding to this, Justice Pardiwala said: "I hope they keep talking like this, over a mug of coffee, for the larger interest of people."
Gupta also placed appreciation of the Court's timely intervention without which a consensus would not have been reached.
What happened so far?
Last week also, the Court had remarked that if the Kerala State Government and the Kerala Governor are unable to reach a consensus regarding the appointment of the Vice Chancellors of two State Universities, then the Court will make the appointment.
The Chancellor has preferred the appointment of Dr.Ciza Thomas and Dr. Priya Chandran as Vice Chancellors of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology in the State, respectively. The State Government has objected to the name of Dr. Thomas.
Earlier, the bench had criticised the Governor for delaying action on the report submitted by the Justice(retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia regarding the appointments of Vice Chancellors. The Court remarked that the Governor was expected to make a decision soon on the recommendations of the Justice Dhulia committee.
It may be recalled that the Court had, in August, constituted a search committee headed by Justice Dhulia to shortlist names for VC appointments in view of the stalemate between the State Government and the Chancellor (Governor). The Court had also directed the Chancellor to make the appointments in the same order of preference as recommended by the Chief Minister.
The Court's order was passed in a Special Leave Petition filed by the Governor, in his capacity as the Chancellor of the Technological University, challenging the Kerala High Court's judgment, which quashed the Chancellor's appointment of a temporary Vice Chancellor of the University without the State Government's recommendation.
On July 30, the Court had urged the Chancellor and the Government to resolve the issue amicably to ensure the appointments of regular VCs. The Court had also clarified that until regular VC appointments are completed, it would be open for the Kerala Governor to re-appoint the present temporary VCs.
Later, the Chancellor re-appointed Ciza Thomas & K Sivaprasad as interim VCs of Digital & Technological Universities, which the State Government challenged by filing an application.
Background
The High Court held in the impugned order that the Governor (Chancellor) can appoint a temporary VC only with the recommendation of the State Government for a period not exceeding six months.
In November 2024, the Chancellor appointed Dr. K. Sivaprasad and Dr. Ciza Thomas as temporary Vice Chancellors of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) and Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology, respectively. These appointments were quashed by a single bench of the High Court on May 19. On July 14, a division bench of the High Court upheld the single bench's decision.
The High Court noted that as per Section 13(7) of the Technological University Act, where the vacancy of Vice-Chancellor arises in any of the circumstances enumerated in clauses (i) to (v), the Chancellor may appoint the Vice-Chancellor of any other University or the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Technological University or the Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department, recommended by the Government, to be the Vice Chancellor for a period of not exceeding six months in the aggregate.
Case Details: THE CHANCELLOR, APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY v. STATE OF KERALA AND ORS| SLP(C) No. 20680-20681/2025