Kerala High Court Stays Governor's Move To Constitute Search Committee For Appointing KUFOS Vice Chancellor

Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. thus issued an interim order staying all further proceedings based on the notification dated 28 June 2024 passed by the Governor.

“I am inclined to pass an interim order in this case since I am convinced that, the issue relating to the competence of the 1st respondent to form a Search-cum-Selection Committee for conducting the selection process of Vice-Chancellor is to be considered in detail after hearing all the parties.”

The Court passed the above order in a writ petition moved by the State Government challenging the notification issued by the Governor to form a Search-cum-Selection committee. As per the notification, a search-cum-selection was constituted for selecting the Vice Chancellors of six universities, Kerala University, Mahatma Gandhi University, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala Agricultural University, Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University and the KUFOS.

The Court opined that there has to be a detailed hearing to assess the competence of the Governor to constitute a Search-cum-Selection committee for selecting the Vice Chancellor.

The State Government argued that the Governor has no authority to constitute such a Search-cum-Selection committee as per the UGC Guidelines and the KUFOS Act. 

The Court further suo moto impleaded the UGC as an additional sixth respondent in the matter. “The Registry is directed to show the name of Sri. S Krishnamoorthy, the learned Standing counsel appearing for the UGC”, said the Court.

The matter has been posted for hearing on August 08, 2024.

The plea has been moved by the State Government, represented by Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Senior Advocate P Sreekumar, Advocate S M Prasanth

Case Title: State of Kerala v The Chancellor

Case Number: WP(C) NO. 25583 OF 2024

Click here to read/download the Interim Order