Supreme Court appoints Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia to chair committee for Kerala VC appointments

The Supreme Court on Monday appointed retired Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as the chairperson of a search committee tasked with shortlisting candidates for the post of vice-chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Digital University [The Chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University vs. State of Kerala and Ors.]..A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathanan said that the impasse between the Kerala Governor and the elected State government should be resolved at the earliest and urged all parties to cooperate to this end.Justice Dhulia was authorised to constitute separate or joint search cum selection committees for the two universities, the Court further said."We firmly believe that this impasse which has been created should be taken care of at the earliest. We hereby appoint Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as chairperson of the search cum selection committee for both the universities. The chairperson is authorised to constitute separate or joint search cum selection committees for the two universities," the Court ordered. The Court added that the committee(s) shall include two members, based on suggestions in lists provided by the Chancellor (Governor) and the State government. The chairman, however, will have the final discretion on the members to be part of the committee(s). The final composition of the committee(s) is to be informed to the Court. The Court further said that the committee is then required to prepare a panel of at least three names (in alphabetical order) of candidates who are finally considered for vice-chancellor appointments. .The Court, in its order, requested Justice Dhulia to constitute the search-cum-selection committee(s) within two weeks.It asked the State government's Department of Higher Education to invite applications from candidates who are interested in being appointed the as vice-chancellor of the two universities. Four weeks time is to be given in these recruitment advertisements for interested candidates to submit their applications, which shall be considered by the State within one week and then placed before the chairman (Justice Dhulia) of the search-cum-selection committee.The committee is then expected to prepare a dossier for consideration of these candidates as Vice-Chancellors. "The search committee may endeavour to complete their task within 1 month from today," the Court urged. .It further said that Justice Dhulia will be paid an honorarium of ₹3 lakh for each proceeding."He shall be provided an office, secretarial assistance, transit accommodation at Trivandrum. He shall be provided with an official vehicle and paraphernalia commensurate to the constitutional position," the Court added. .The Bench said that remaining larger issues will be considered at a later stage. "The larger issues in this litigation shall be considered once this entire exercise is complete.".The Court was hearing a petition filed by the Kerala Governor, in his capacity as Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (AKTU), challenging a Kerala High Court decision which upheld the State government’s authority to recommend temporary Vice-Chancellors. The matter also involved a fresh application by the State, which has challenged a recent notification by the Governor appointing Dr K Sivaprasad as interim VC of AKTU. .Attorney General R Venkataramani appeared for the Governor of Kerala. .Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta appeared for Kerala government.