“Unwarranted Interference By Kerala Kerala Govt”: Supreme Court Cancels Re-Appointment Of University Vice Chancellor
The Supreme Court of India in a crucial judgment on Thursday quashed the re-appointment of Dr Gopinathan Ravindran as the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Kannur University in Kerala. The top court cancelled the appointment on the ground of “unwarranted interference by the State Government”. The bench including Chief Justice DY Chandrachud observed that the Kerala Governor, who serves as the Chancellor of the University, “abdicated and surrendered” the statutory powers for re-appointing the Vice Chancellor.
A petition challenging the re-appointment of Mr Raveendran as the Vice Chancellor of Kannur University was filed by the University senate member Dr Premachandran Keezhoth and academic council member Shino P Jose. The pronouncement on Thursday was made by a bench comprised of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra.
Substantiating the judgement, the court took a press release issued by the Kerala Raj Bhavan. In that the state governor Arif Mohammad Khan stated that the process of re-appointment was initiated by the Chief Minister of Kerala and its education minister. “Although the notification for reappointment was issued by the Chancellor, the decision stood vitiated by the unwarranted interference by State Government”, said the court on Thursday.
The judgment was pronounced by Justice JB Pardiwala, and said that they had considered four questions, reported the Live Law. The court then answered that the re-appointment is permissible in a tenure post, the age limit of 60 years won’t apply in the case of a re-appointment, and it is not necessary that re-appointment should follow the same process of fresh appointment. But to the fourth question, the court said that they took the view “that the Chancellor abdicated or surrendered the statutory power, rendering the entire decision making process invalid”.
“We are not concerned with suitability of the candidate as suitability is up to appointment authority…It is the decision-making process which vitiated the re appointment of Vice Chancellor. Such a power of decision is amenable to judicial review”, the Court held.
Earlier the High Court of Kerala dismissed the writ preferred by the elected members of the Senate and the Academic Council of Kannur University holding that the appointment of VC violated no statutory provisions. According to the petitioners the re-appointment of VC was issued in November 23, 2021, and by the time Mr Ravindran surpassed the age of sixty, which is the age limit concerned for the post by the University.
