Kerala, 10 ഡിസംബര്‍ (H.S.)

Thiruvananthapuram: The meeting held between Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Law Minister P. Rajeev, and Higher Education Minister R. Bindu regarding the VC appointment dispute in universities did not result in a thaw (a resolution). The attempt at compromise failed after both the Governor and the government made it clear that they would not back down. Governor Rajendra Arlekar maintained his stand that the VCs he appointed were qualified. The Governor also asked the ministers why the Chief Minister did not attend the discussion. The Governor told the ministers that he did not receive an answer to the question of how the Chief Minister determined the order of priority.

The government initiated the compromise move after the Supreme Court took a strong stand in the dispute over the appointment of VCs for the Kerala Technical and Digital Universities. The government and the Governor had put forward different names for the VC appointments in the universities. The Governor had filed a new affidavit in the Supreme Court the previous day against the Chief Minister's recommendation. The Governor's affidavit demanded the appointment of Ciza Thomas as the VC of the Technical University and Dr. Priya Chandran as the VC of the Digital University. The Governor alleged that the Chief Minister did not consider merit and sidelined Ciza Thomas based on media reports, thereby subverting merit. Following this, the Supreme Court issued a stern warning in the VC appointment case.

The bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala, which considered the case, expressed strong displeasure over the continuing dispute. The Supreme Court made it clear that if a consensus is not reached based on the list provided by the Justice Dhulia Committee, the court would take over the VC appointments. The Supreme Court had formed two search committees, chaired by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, for the VC appointments of the Technical (KTU) and Digital Universities. Although the Chief Minister's recommendation, based on the list provided by the two committees, was given to the Governor, the appointments did not take place.

The Chief Minister recommended C. Satish Kumar for the Technical University and Saji Gopinath for the Digital University. However, the Governor's suggestion is to appoint Priya Chandran in the Digital University and Ciza Thomas in the Technical University as VCs. Since the dispute has not ended even after the Governor-Ministers meeting, the Supreme Court's stance is what is to be seen next.

The Supreme court earlier said that, it would appoint the Vice Chancellors (‘VCs;) of two Kerala State Universities, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, if the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Governor Rajendra Ariekar do not resolve their differences over the recommended candidates.

Observing that it would step in and make the appointments if no consensus is arrived at, Justice J.B. Pardiwala heading a bench also comprising Justice P.B. Varale posted the matter for Thursday remarking “Hope there are some developments.”

Appearing for the Kerala government, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta informed the Court that the Chancellor (the Governor) had filed an affidavit explaining his decisions taken by him.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Chancellor, submitted that the Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia Committee had recommended two sets of names and the Chancellor picked up two names. “I believe the Chief Minister has some difficulty with these names,” Gupta noted. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia is a former judge of the Supreme Court.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Roshith K