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Resolve Row Over University VC Appointments Or Else We Will Appoint : Supreme Court Warns West Bengal Govt, Governor
Gyanvi Khanna
18 May 2024 11:14 AM IST
The Supreme Court on Friday (May 17) while hearing an ongoing dispute between the West Bengal government and Governor CV Anand Bose(Chancellor of Universities) regarding the appointment of interim vice-chancellors (VC), warned both the parties that it will appoint the VCs if the parties fail to do it amicably.“The moment you will prompt us, we will pass some order and that order will...
The Supreme Court on Friday (May 17) while hearing an ongoing dispute between the West Bengal government and Governor CV Anand Bose(Chancellor of Universities) regarding the appointment of interim vice-chancellors (VC), warned both the parties that it will appoint the VCs if the parties fail to do it amicably.
“The moment you will prompt us, we will pass some order and that order will guarantee completely take away your(Governor's) discretion and their(State's) discretion. If you want to do that, we will do that. If you want to resolve it amicably, you do it…the moment we constitute a search committee Ld. Attorney, we are very clear that we will not allow to tinker with a single name that committee will find. Then we will, through court order, give them the appointment. We do not want that. Please let us see if we can avoid..,” said Justice Kant.
The bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Vishwanathan was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by the State of West Bengal challenging the June 2023 judgment of the Calcutta High Court upholding the interim vice-chancellor appointments made by Governor Bose in 13 universities, in his capacity as the chancellor of the institutions.
In October 2023, the Court had stayed the disbursement of financial perks to the interim VCs appointed by the Governor while the matter was pending before the Supreme Court. The Court also restrained the appointment of ad-hoc or acting Vice Chancellors.
Efforts to break the deadlock led the court to propose the constitution of a search-cum-selection committee for appointing vice-chancellors. However, the Court faced challenges in forming the committee as neither the governor nor the University Grants Commission (UGC) responded with nominees, as alleged by the state government. The court sought five names each from the UGC, the West Bengal Government, and the Governor to determine the committee's composition. During a subsequent hearing, the court also called upon intervenors to propose names of renowned scientists, technocrats, administrators, educationists, and other eminent individuals.
Previously, the Court was informed that the Governor has agreed to fill up six vacancies of Vice Chancellors from the list recommended by the West Bengal Government. Accordingly, the Court had directed that the same must be done within a week. Apart from this, the Court had also asked the State Government to send recommendations for the remaining vacancies.
Following this, when the matter was listed yesterday, the Court was apprised that the State Government had given a list of fifteen candidates for appointment as VCs for fifteen universities. However, the Chancellor found seven persons out of this list to be unsuitable, and the rest were not considered.
Disappointed with such an approach, Justice Kant made the aforementioned remark and ordered that rest of the eight persons shall be appointed within one week. It also directed the State government to send about twelve-fifteen names of eminent persons for reconsideration by the Chancellor. This direction was passed to fill up the seven vacant positions (out of fifteen).
Besides this, during the hearing, both the parties had submitted before the Court that they are ad-idem on the constitution of the search committee. The Court agreed on the issue of appointing a committee and passed the following order:
“We are informed that the State Government has given a list of 15 for appointment of VC for 15 universities, out of that list, the ld chancellor did not find the seven persons to be suitable…. the rest of the eight persons shall be appointed within one week. Meanwhile, the State government shall also send about 12-15 names of eminent persons for reconsideration of the Ld. Chancellor to fill up the 7 vacant positions. As regards to the left-out universities, on the joint request of the ld. Senior counsels….a search committee will be appointed.,” the Court ordered.
Click here to read a detailed background.
Case Title: State of West Bengal v. Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh & Ors. | Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 17403 of 2023
