Institute of Legal and Management Studies

Given the stalemate between the Kerala Government and the Kerala Governor regarding the appointment of University Vice Chancellors, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 18) appointed Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as the Chairperson of the Search-cum-Selection Committee to shortlist names of regular Vice-Chancellor appointments in two State Universities - APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology.

"We firmly believe that this impasse, which has been created, should be taken care of at earliest. In such circumstances, we appointed Hon'ble Sudhanshu Dhulia, former judge of this Court, as chairperson of the Search-cum-Selection University for both universities. Learned chairperson is authorised to constitute a separate or same committee for two universities. Learned chairperson shall preside over the committee; the composition shall be five. Two members from the list provided Chancellor and the State. Ultimately, we leave it to the discretion of the Chairperson," the Court passed an order.

On earlier occasion, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan had asked the Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, and Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta (for the State) to give four names for inclusion in the 5-member committee. One member will be nominated by the University Grants Commission.

The Court was dealing with a Special Leave Petition filed by the Kerala Governor, in his capacity as the Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, challenging the Kerala High Court's judgment, which quashed the Chancellor's appointment of 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