Amid an extended tussle between the Kerala Government and the Governor over the appointment of regular Vice Chancellors in two State universities, the Supreme Court on December 11 directed the committee headed by Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia to propose one name per university after reviewing the correspondence exchanged between the Chief Minister and the Chancellor. The recommendations are to be submitted in a sealed cover by next Wednesday, with the matter scheduled for further hearing on December 18.

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan was examining the issue concerning the appointment of VCs for APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology.

At the outset, Attorney General R. Venkataramani sought to hand over a confidential reply written by the Chancellor to the Chief Minister. The bench, however, refused to peruse it, with Justice Pardiwala remarking, “Don’t open it, we will not get into all this.”

Representing the State, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta informed the Court that the State Law Minister and Higher Education Minister had met the Chancellor, and that the Chief Minister had objected only to one candidate—Dr. Ciza Thomas. He argued that when Thomas served as interim VC, she “completely disrupted the functioning of the University,” and that the Chancellor had not expressed objections to the other suggested names.

Justice Pardiwala, however, noted that the Dhulia Committee itself had included her name in its list. Gupta submitted that the panel had not ranked candidates in order of merit, adding that the August 18 order required the Chief Minister—not the committee—to determine the order of preference.

Observing that the two authorities had failed to reach consensus and that a resolution seemed unlikely, the Court directed the Dhulia Committee to now recommend one candidate for each university.

In its order, the bench recorded:
“Despite best efforts, the deadlock continues. The Chancellor and the Chief Minister have not been able to reach consensus regarding appointment of a Vice Chancellor in two universities. The entire exercise had been undertaken by the committee constituted by us and headed by Justice Dhulia. It was expected that the Chancellor and Chief Minister would finalise the names. However, except for exchange of letters, nothing has happened. We declined to look at the sealed reply handed over today. We request the committee to examine the letters and give us one name per university in order of preference, in a sealed cover, by Wednesday.”

Last week, the bench had cautioned that if the State and the Governor failed to resolve the impasse, the Court itself would proceed with the appointments.

The Governor has recommended Dr. Ciza Thomas for APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Dr. Priya Chandran for the University of Digital Sciences. The State Government’s sole objection is to Dr. Thomas.

Earlier, the Court had criticised the Governor for delays in acting on the Dhulia Committee’s report. In August, due to the stalemate, the Court formed a search committee headed by Justice Dhulia and directed that the Chancellor appoint VCs strictly following the order of merit fixed by the Chief Minister.

These proceedings arise from an SLP filed by the Chancellor in his capacity as the head of the Technological University, challenging a Kerala High Court judgment that quashed his appointment of a temporary VC without State recommendation.

On July 30, the Supreme Court encouraged both sides to reach an amicable solution and clarified that until regular appointments were made, the Governor was free to continue with temporary VCs. Subsequently, the Chancellor reappointed Dr. Ciza Thomas and Dr. K. Sivaprasad as interim VCs—an action the State challenged.

Background

The Kerala High Court had held that the Chancellor may appoint a temporary VC only on the State Government’s recommendation, and for a period not exceeding six months. In November 2024, the Chancellor appointed Dr. Sivaprasad and Dr. Thomas as temporary VCs of KTU and the Digital University. A single judge set aside the appointments in May 2025, and a Division Bench later affirmed the ruling. The High Court interpreted Section 13(7) of the Technological University Act to allow only such temporary appointments as recommended by the Government.

Case Details: THE CHANCELLOR, APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY v. STATE OF KERALA & ORS, SLP(C) Nos. 20680–20681/2025