Supreme Court Records Satisfaction At West Bengal University VCs' Appointments, Notes Only 3 Remain

The Supreme Court was today informed on behalf of the West Bengal government and Governor CV Ananda Bose that appointments of Vice-Chancellors to only 3 West Bengal Universities remain to be settled. Appointments of VCs to the remaining universities have been made.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was informed of the development by Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta (for State) and Attorney General R Venkataramani (for WB Governor).

Accordingly, the bench recorded in its order:

"It gives us immense satisfaction to record that barring 3 universities, Vice Chancellors in all other universities have been appointed. As regards these 3, we have received a communication letter dated [...] from Justice UU Lalit, former CJI and Chairman of the Selection Committee, that the said Committee is likely to conduct interviews in the first week of March, 2026."

To recap, the matter pertains to the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in 36 Universities in the State of West Bengal. Through the Court's intervention, and upon appointment of Justice UU Lalit Committee, the deadlock between the State CM and the Governor was resolved qua 25 Universities in phases and names of candidates finalized. The issue remained to be resolved qua 11 Universities.

In January this year, the Court was informed that 8 more names had been cleared. The issue regarding 3 remaining Universities was to be endeavored to be resolved by Justice UU Lalit's Committee. Now, interviews for the remaining 3 appointments shall be held by the Selection Committee in early March.

Case Title: State of West Bengal v. Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh & Ors. | Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 17403 of 2023