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In a major setback to Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, the Supreme Court on Monday, September 22, declined the request to hear the governor’s application to exclude the Kerala Chief Minister from the Committee responsible for appointing Vice Chancellors in two universities in the state. The SC bench, comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan, stated that the application can be considered after the submission of the report by Retired Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, the head of the Committee.
Governor Rajendra Arlekar sought the removal of the CM from the committee for the appointment of VCs in the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) and the University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology (DUK).
According to Live Law, the court declined the request submitted by Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Kerala Governor, and said, "Let the report come. We will work out the modalities. We will balance...Let the report be placed; the day it comes, we will look into the report and the modified order."
Earlier, on August 18, the SC had appointed Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as the Chairperson of the search-cum-selection committee. The SC decision came after a months-long conflict on appointing VCs between the state government and the Governor.
The order also directed that VCs should be shortlisted in the order of preference recommended by the Chief Minister. “Recommendations made by the search-cum-selection committee, duly endorsed by the learned chairperson, shall be put up before the chief minister (and not the minister-in-charge of a department) for necessary consideration.”
On September 2, the Governor had approached the SC seeking modification of its August 18 order, and requested that the CM be excluded from the search-cum-appointimg committee. “The Chief Minister, being the executive head of the state, is connected with a number of government colleges, managed by the government and affiliated to the university. Therefore, as per UGC regulations, he cannot have any role whatsoever in the appointment of Vice Chancellors,” his application had stated.