Kerala Vice Chancellor appointments finalised after Governor-CM meeting; SC appreciates outcome

The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the prolonged standoff between the Kerala Governor and the State government over the appointment of vicechancellors to two universities has been resolved after a meeting between the Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

- PARMOD KUMAR

A Bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan was told that regular vice-chancellors have now been appointed to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology. The appointments were made from panels recommended by a court-appointed committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.

Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, appearing for the Governor, and senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing the Kerala government, jointly apprised the Court of the development. The Attorney General said the deadlock ended after the Governor personally reached out to the Chief Minister.

"I have been talking with the Governor. When this deadlock was going on, the Governor himself called the Chief Minister, and they had a meeting. And that is how it got resolved finally," AG Venkataramani told the Bench.