Supreme Court Criticises Kerala Governor's Delay In VC Appointments; Asks Him To Decide Soon On Justice Dhulia's Report

The Supreme Court on Friday (November 28) criticised the Kerala Governor for delaying action on the report submitted by the Justice(retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia regarding the appointments of Vice Chancellors of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology in the State.

A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan observed that the Governor is expected to take 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.

Today, the Kerala Government mentioned the matter before Justice Pardiwala's bench. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the State, told the bench that though Justice Dhulia's report has been handed over, no decision has been taken by the Chancellor so far.

Justice Pardiwala then asked, "Has the Chancellor looked into the report of Hon'ble Justice Dhulia?". When the Governor's counsel replied in the negative, Justice Pardiwala asked, "Why has he not looked into it?"

 The counsel replied that they had also written to Justice Dhulia seeking the record of the proceedings. "Do you say that the Chancellor has not received the report?". The counsel replied that he has received the report of the Chief Minister, but the entire record have not been received.

"What record is he speaking of Mr.Gupta?" Justice Pardiwala asked. Gupta replied that the entire material has been handed over as per his knowledge.

The bench then ordered :

"This matter was mentioned today by Mr Jaideep Gupta for the State of Kerala. In due deference to our order dated 18.08.2025, Hon'ble Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, former Judge of this Court, undertook the necessary exercise and has prepared a report accordingly. The report has been forwarded to the Chief Minister of the State. The Chief Minister in turn has forwarded the report to the learned Chancellor of the two Universities. It is expected of the learned Chancellor to now look into the report filed by the Committee headed by Justice Dhulia. Learned counsel appearing for the Chancellor would submit that the report has been received but not the records. We fail to understand why the non-receipt of the records is coming in the way for the purpose of looking into the report filed by the committee. In such circumstances, we now expect the learned Chancellor to take a decision in accordance with the report of the Committee. We may remind one and all that the Committee was appointed with the concurrence of all the parties."

Justice Pardiwala asked the Chancellor's counsel to make a statement as to when the decision can be taken, after taking instructions. When the counsel sought to make further arguments, Justice Pardiwala stopped him and said, "This is not just an ordinary piece of paper. A former Judge of the Supreme Court has looked into it. So you are to look into the report and take an appropriate call."

"We expect you to take a decision. When the decision is placed before us, we will decide if the decision is right or wrong," Justice Pardiwala said, posting the matter next Friday.

Case Details: THE CHANCELLOR, APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY v. STATE OF KERALA AND ORS| SLP(C) No. 20680-20681/2025

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