Supreme Court to appoint VCs; list of names should be submitted within Wednesday

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will appoint vice chancellors for the digital and technical universities. The apex court has directed the search committees chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Sudhanshu Dhulia to provide one name each by next Wednesday. The court's intervention was after the government and the governor failed to reach a consensus.

The talks held between Ministers R Bindu and P Rajeev with the governor had failed yesterday. The meeting was based on the Supreme Court's direction that the two should reach a consensus.

The ministers stood firm on their stand that Dr Saji Gopinath should be appointed as the vice chancellor of the digital university, but the governor insisted on appointing Dr Ciza Thomas. The governor also expressed displeasure over the chief minister not holding direct discussions with him on the issue. The reply was that the chief minister was not in Thiruvananthapuram.

The governor also questioned the chief minister's note terming Ciza Thomas as inefficient. Ciza Thomas was earlier appointed to the expert committees of the chief minister's electronics and IT department as he had faith in her skills. There is a contradiction in raising objections when considering her as the VC later. The names given by the chief minister cannot be accepted as they are. The Governor blamed the chief minister for not considering merit. The ministers replied that the chief minister had fixed the order of priority based on the Supreme Court order and handed it over to the Governor.

The chief minister recommended Dr Sathish Kumar as the first name in the Technical University and Dr Saji Gopinath in Digital. He also gave a special note not to appoint Ciza. However, the Governor submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court that Dr Bindu could be appointed as VC in the Technical University and Dr Ciza in Digital.