Supreme Court to Decide on Kerala University VCs Amid Government-Governor Stalemate
The Supreme Court has made a decisive intervention following a prolonged stalemate between the Kerala government and the Governor regarding the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. The apex court directed a committee led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia to submit a list of candidates for the Vice-Chancellor positions in the state’s technical and digital universities in a sealed cover. A bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan announced that the order appointing the new Vice-Chancellors from this list would be issued on Thursday.
Previously, the search committee, chaired by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, had prepared a panel of names for consideration as Vice-Chancellors and submitted it to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, in turn, forwarded this prioritized list to the Governor, who serves as the Chancellor of the universities. The state government conveyed to the court its objection specifically to the appointment of Ciza Thomas as Vice-Chancellor, stating that it would be amenable to the appointment of any other candidate from the submitted panel.
During the proceedings, Jaideep Gupta and C.K. Sashi, representing the state government, argued that Ciza Thomas had allegedly brought disrepute to the university during her tenure as interim Vice-Chancellor. Conversely, Attorney General R. Venkitaramani and advocate Venkita Subramanian, appearing for the Governor, contended that Ciza Thomas was included in the panel for Vice-Chancellor appointments for both universities and therefore could not be arbitrarily excluded.