Supreme Court To Hear Tamil Nadu's Challenge To HC Stay On University Law Amendments On December 2

The Supreme Court on Monday posted to December 2 the petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the Madras High Court's order which stayed  the operation of State amendments taking away the Governor's power to appoint Vice-Chancellors of State-run Universities.

A matter was before a bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The State has also filed a petition seeking to transfer to the Supreme Court the public interest litigation pending before the Madras High Court.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the case will have to await the outcome of the Presidential Reference relating to the timelines fixed for Governor to grant assent to Bills. Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi, for the State, submitted that the case has nothing to do with the Presidential Reference (The amendments in question came into operation on the basis of the "deemed assent" declared by the Supreme Court in the TN Governor case). 

Senior Advocate P Wilson, also for the State, submitted that the High Court's stay has resulted in many Universities functioning without VCs. " Out of 22 universities, 14 are head-less. I am unable to do anything in the state. Ex-parte stay was granted. Presidential reference decision has no impact on this. Question is who can be the appointing authority...There's some urgency here," he said.

Justice Kant said that the Court can allow the State to seek urgent decision by the High Court in 7-10 days. Ultimately, the matter was posted to December 2.

To recap briefly, the subject amendments took away the power to appoint VCs from the Governor and vested it in the state government. Recently, on May 21, the High Court stayed the said state amendments, which were brought in pursuant to the Supreme Court judgment in the TN Governor case (which defined the scope of powers of the Governor).

Tamil Nadu government seeks transfer of the PIL from the High Court to the Supreme Court, as similar cases are already pending before the latter. One of these pertains to Tamil Nadu government's challenge to 3 notifications unilaterally issued by the Governor for constituting search-and-selection committees for the appointment of VCs in Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Madras University. During a hearing in January, 2025, a bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala orally indicated in this case that if the issue regarding appointment of VCs was not resolved by the next date, then the Court would resolve it.

 Background

The PIL before the High Court challenges a series of legislative amendments passed by the State of Tamil Nadu, whereby powers of appointing the Vice-Chancellor were transferred from the Governor to the state government.

The writ-petitioner (respondent No.1 before Supreme Court) claims that the 12 amendments brought in by the state government were repugnant to the Central Law ie, the UGC Regulations. As per him, the UGC Regulations mandate that the Vice-Chancellors be appointed by the Chancellor from a panel recommended by the Search Committee and by vesting this power in the State Government, the amendments were overriding the role of the Chancellor.

The High Court heard the matter on May 21, when the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department (TNHED) informed that the state's transfer petition was likely be taken up by the Supreme Court in 2-3 days and urged that the case before the High Court be deferred. The State Advocate General also opposed the prayer for stay, pointing out that the Supreme Court has ruled against staying of legislation as a matter of course unless found to be ex facie illegal.

Notably, the TNHED also contended that the Gazette notification relied on by the writ-petitioner(s) was a forged one and not the one passed by the State. It suggested that a CB-CID enquiry be conducted to investigate how such a forged gazette was filed before the Court. 

The High Court, however, rejected the plea for deferment, heard the writ-petitioners and ordered stay of the subject amendments.

The present petition was filed through AoR Misha Rohatgi.

Case Title: THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU AND ANR. Versus K VENKATACHALAPTHY @ KUTTY AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 17220/2025 and  T.P.(C) No. 1511/2025