New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear and possibly deliver a crucial ruling today on the contentious appointments of Vice Chancellors to Kerala’s Technical University and Digital University. The case will be taken up by a bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala, following the Court’s earlier instruction directing the state to finalize decisions within a week.
The dispute escalated after the Governor submitted a fresh affidavit rejecting the Chief Minister’s recommended candidates and proposing his own choices. The Governor has recommended Dr. Sisa Thomas for the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Dr. Priya Chandran for the Digital University.
In his affidavit, the Governor alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan failed to consider merit, claiming that Dr. Sisa Thomas was excluded based on media reports rather than objective evaluation. Notably, Dr. Thomas’s name appeared in the panels prepared by both search committees, chaired by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, for the two universities. Despite this, the Chief Minister advised against her appointment.
For the Digital University VC post, the Chief Minister’s priority list had Dr. Saji Gopinath at the top, while for the Technical University, Dr. C. Satheesh Kumar was the first preference. Both recommendations were dismissed by the Governor.
The Digital University list also included Dr. Rajashree M.S., Dr. Jince Jose, and Dr. Priya Chandran in the following positions, while the Technical University list featured Dr. C. Satheesh Kumar, Dr. Bindu G.R., and Dr. Priya Chandran as the top three candidates.
Today’s Supreme Court hearing is expected to shed light on the balance of authority between the Governor and the state government in university governance and could set an important precedent for future appointments.
