Consensus reached on appointment of VCs in Kerala varsities, governor tells Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the Kerala governor and the state government have agreed to names for the appointment of vice chancellors of the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala University of Digital Sciences.

The matter is resolved and this has been duly communicated to the committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Sudhanshu Dhulia, Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the governor, told a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan.

The apex court said a university cannot run without the vice chancellor as he has an important role to play.

"After our last order referred to above, there has been some positive developments. This case illustrates how timely and decisive intervention can go a long way in protecting rights of citizens. Two prominent universities were ruler less. They had no permanent VC heading them. The only reason was, that a consensus was eluding the governor and state government. Doors of this court was knocked, we were deeply concerned," the bench said.

"We appointed Justice Dhulia and entrusted him with the task of recommending at least three names for VC in two universities. Today, we are happy that the chancellor and government in one voice have reported that the appointment of the VC has been made. We place our appreciation to the good office of Justice Dhulia," it added.

The top court in its order said its endeavour was that the interest of all stakeholders is safeguarded.

"We place our appreciation to the authorities who have acted in aid of the court in appointment. Curtains have been gracefully brought down by the authorities and we also appreciate the attorney general and senior advocate Jaideep Gupta and to the entire team assisting for bringing around a very happy ending to this saga," the bench said.

Noting the continuous deadlock between the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor-cum-Chancellor Rajendra Arlekar, the top court on December 11 asked a committee headed by Justice (retd) Dhulia to recommend one name each for appointing vice chancellors in two technical universities.

The top court had earlier said it would intervene to resolve the ongoing deadlock over the selection of vice chancellors for two technical universities in Kerala if the chief minister and the governor do not reach a consensus.

On November 28, the top court took serious exception to the Kerala governor and chancellor "not looking" at the Dhulia Committee report on the appointment of the vice chancellors of the two universities and remarked that it is not just an ordinary piece of paper.

On September 2, the Kerala governor moved the apex court for the exclusion of Vijayan from the selection process of the vice chancellors. The governor said neither of the universities envisioned any role for the chief minister in the selection process.

On August 18, to end the "impasse" between the Kerala governor and the state government over the appointment of vice-chancellors, the apex court appointed former apex court judge Dhulia as head of a panel meant for shortlisting names. Justice Dhulia demitted office as Supreme Court judge on August 9.

On July 30, the top court asked both the Kerala government and the attorney general, appearing for the governor, to "work out some mechanism in harmony" to resolve the dispute.