New Delhi: The Supreme Court will constitute the search committee to appoint permanent vice-chancellors for the Technological University and Digital University. The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Kerala Government and the Governor, who is also the Chancellor, to submit the names of persons to be included in the search committee. The court stated that the case will be reconsidered on Thursday.

The search committee, consisting of five members, is responsible for selecting the vice-chancellors of both the Technological University and the Digital University. One member will be nominated by the UGC. The Supreme Court has directed the Governor and the government to provide the names of the other four members to be appointed. The names are to be submitted by Thursday.

The Governor argued that under UGC regulations, he is the one who should constitute the search committee. However, Kerala holds the position that according to the University Act, it is the state’s responsibility to form the search committee. Due to this ongoing dispute, the Supreme Court has decided to take over the formation of the search committee.

‘Kerala Govt stance is legally correct’

The Supreme Court observed that the Governor’s action of appointing interim vice-chancellors at the Technological University and Digital University goes against the law, rejecting the state government’s recommendation. The court pointed out that the appointment of interim vice-chancellors must be done as per Section 13(7) of the Technological University Act and Section 11(10) of the Digital University Act, as clearly stated in their judgment. However, the Supreme Court urged that the ongoing crisis should not be allowed to worsen, especially since permanent vice-chancellors are about to be appointed.

Earnest request to resolve the crisis

The Supreme Court requested that the issue related to the appointment of vice-chancellors be resolved through dialogue. This request was made by the bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan. The court also emphasised that the functioning of the universities should not be brought to a halt.

Kerala clarified that the current deadlock is not due to a power struggle but is a matter related to federalism.

The Attorney General cited before the court that a search committee was constituted under the chairmanship of then Chief Justice U U Lalit to appoint vice-chancellors in Bengal. When asked whether such a committee is necessary here, the Attorney General did not give a clear answer and left the court.

Attorney General R Venkittaraman, Senior Advocate P Sreekumar and Advocate Venkitta Subramaniam T R appeared on behalf of the Governor. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, Standing Counsel C K Sasi and Advocate Meena K Paulose appeared on behalf of the state government.