VC appointment in 11 varsities; Kerala Guv sets up legal bulwark against Government

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala governor is setting up a legal bulwark against the state government to hinder the appointment of vice-chancellors in eleven universities. Legal advisor P. Sreekumar recommended excluding the Senate representative for the VC appointment and forming a two-member search committee consisting of only UGC and Chancellor representatives.

The recommendation was rejected as the Governor decided to file a writ petition with the government, universities and higher education department as opposing parties. With the governor’s tenure about to end in September, the difference over VC appointment again tangled in legal dispute is no big concern for the government. Only Health and Calicut Universities have permanent VC.

A three-member committee consisting of the Chancellor, UGC and university representatives should submit the panel for appointment of VC. Even after requesting more than a dozen times, the varsities are not providing the representative. This delay is made as per the government's directive.

The High Court had blocked the two-member committee formed by the Governor, that came without a representative of Kerala Varsity. Later, the government requested a Governor’s representative to the search committee in the Malayalam varsity, and the government formed its search committee by excluding the governor in the technical varsity; all this later turned into a controversy.

In the Kerala Varsity case, the High Court had ordered that the Governor could take action if the Senate did not provide a representative. The legal advice was to form a two-member committee. However, the governor rejected the legal advice that planned to give an affidavit and inform the court about the deadlock in the eight varsities, in case if the two-member committee was questioned in the court.

Who is the authority?

1) The governor said that the chancellor has the authority to form the search committee. The Supreme Court also asserted that the appointment of VC should be done by the Chancellor.

2) Meanwhile Government said that the appointment of VC is the prerogative of Govt under Article 162 of the Constitution and UGC Rules do not mention the number or composition of search committee members.