In a matter listed before a Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan regarding the appointment of Vice Chancellors in the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology, the Court condemned the delay while directing the Governor of Kerala (Chancellor) to look into Justice (Retd.) Sudhanshu Dhulia’s report and take a call accordingly.

The Governor had filed a petition before this Court challenging a decision of the Kerala High Court quashing the Governor’s appointment of a temporary Vice Chancellor without the State Government’s recommendation. Thereafter, the Court ordered the formation of a search committee, led by Justice Dhulia, to shortlist names for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors at the institutions mentioned above, in light of the standoff between the State Government and the Governor.

The State contended that, even though the committee’s report had been handed over, the Governor had still not made a decision. Upon being asked whether the Governor had looked into the report, a negative response was received, and it was stated that the entire record had not been received.

The Court expressed its failure to understand why the records were getting in the way of looking into the report filed by the committee and directed the Chancellor to take an appropriate decision after considering the report, while saying that the report is not an ordinary piece of paper, as a former Judge of the Supreme Court had looked into it.

Source: Press