As Governor-CM Deadlock Continues, Supreme Court Asks J Dhulia Committee To Recommend One Name Each For 2 Kerala University VC Posts
Gursimran Kaur Bakshi
11 Dec 2025 11:48 AM IST
After a prolonged deadlock between the Kerala Government and the Kerala Governor over appointing regular Vice Chancellors in two state universities, the Supreme Court on December 11 asked the committee headed by Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia to recommend one name for each university after examining the correspondence between the Chief Minister and the Chancellor. The names are to be submitted in a sealed cover by next Wednesday, and the Court will take up the matter again on December 18.
A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan was hearing the matter related to the appointments of VCs of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, and the University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology.
At the outset, Attorney General for India R Venkataramani said that he wanted to hand over to the bench a confidential letter written by the Chancellor to the Chief Minister as a reply to the letter sent by the Chief Minister regarding one of the recommendations. However, the bench declined to see the letter.
Justice Pardiwala said: "Don't open it, we will not get into all this."
Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the State of Kerala, informed the bench that the Law Minister and the Higher Education Minister had met the Chancellor yesterday. He said that the Chief Minister's objection is only with respect to one name (Ciza Thomas), and that the Chancellor did not indicate any particular objection to the other names. "Chief Minister has said apart from this particular name, any other name can be chosen. When she was the temporary Vice Chancellor, she completely disrupted the functioning of the University," Gupta said.
But Justice Pardiwala pointed out that the committee led by Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia has itself recommended her name. Gupta responded that the committee did not recommend the names in the order of merit, and it is only the Chief Minister who has to do so as per the August 18 order.
Considering that the two authorities have not been able to reach a consensus and there is no likelihood that it would be reached in future, the Court ordered that the Justice Dhulia Committee will now recommend one name each.
"We heard Ventakaramani, Attorney General for the Chancellor and learned senior counsel Jaideep Gupta for the State Government. Despite best efforts, the deadlock continues till this date. The chancellor and the chief minister have not been able to reach to any consensus in regards to appointment of a particular person as a vice chancellor in two universities. The entire exercise has been undertaken by a committee constituted by us and headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia. It was expected that the Chancellor and the Chief minister would reach to a consensus and finalise the names. However, unfortunately, nothing has been done except some exchange of letters between the two.
Today when we heard the matter, the Attorney General handed over the sealed envelope containing the reply of the Chancellor,;we declined to look at the same. We are of the view that we should request the committee headed by J Dhulia to look into the letter of the Chief minister and the reply of the Chancellor and give us a composite report. We request the committee to give us one particular name for each university in a sealed cover in terms of preference. We request the committee to undertake the exercise and forward the report by Wednesday so that we can take the matter on Thursday."
Last week, 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 ad 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