V-C appointment: SC orders to form search committee

Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday resolved the impasse over the ongoing dispute between the Bengal government and Governor C V Ananda Bose (Chancellor of Universities) over the appointment of vice-chancellors (V-C) in state universities by ordering the constitution of a separate or joint Search Selection Committee.

It set a deadline of three months to complete the entire process.

The Committee, to be headed by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, shall prepare a panel of three names for each university for V-C appointments and will present it to the Chief Minister (CM).

If the CM has reason to believe that any such person is unsuitable, the remarks and the supporting material shall be presented to the Chancellor within two weeks.

Furthermore, the CM shall be entitled to recommend the shortlisted names in the order of preference to the Chancellor. The Chancellor, in turn, will appoint the V-Cs out of empanelled names in the same order of preference as recommended by the CM.

In case the Chancellor has any reservations about the empanelled names or the remarks made by the CM against any shortlisted candidates, he shall be entitled to put up his own opinion on file which shall be duly supported with material and reasons.

In cases where the Chancellor has approved the names, the concerned department of the state has been directed to notify the appointment within one week of receipt of approval by the Chancellor.

As per the apex court, the committee will be headed by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit (chairperson) and will be constituted within two weeks. The Chairperson will preside over every such Search Selection Committee, which shall consist of five members. Further, the Search Committee shall prepare a panel of three names for each university for V-C appointments, alphabetically and not in order of merits. The committee’s recommendations, duly endorsed by the chairperson, shall be presented to the state’s Chief Minister.

The Court said it will make the final decision in cases of dispute between two parties over the shortlisted names. The Court will pass the verdict after giving a reasonable opportunity to hear the objectors.

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Vishwanathan was hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the government of Bengal challenging the June 2023 judgement of 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.

The Supreme Court through its interim directions put an end to the arbitrary and illegal actions of the Governor as the Chancellor while appointing vice-chancellors in various state universities in West Bengal. The directions come as a reality check for the Chancellor who has been irrespective of the governing statutes, merit and qualification of the candidates for the past one year authorising individuals to act as vice-chancellors without keeping the state government and the Chief Minister in the loop.

The interim directions of the court take away the arbitrary powers and vests the final decision-making in the hands of the Chief Minister along with the state departments acting as nodal agencies while also constituting a committee under the aegis of the former Chief Justice of India Justice UU Lalit to resolve the impasse, said Sanjay Basu, senior standing counsel in SC, for the Bengal government.

“Hon’ble Supreme Court in today’s order has upheld the contention of the state government regarding the constitutionality of appointing VCs by the Governor instead of the democratically elected Head of the State. In today’s order, the Hon’ble Bench has instructed the Search cum Selection Committee, to be headed by ex-CJI Justice (Retd) U U Lalit to recommend a panel of 3 names alphabetically to each university to the Hon’ble Chief Minister. The Hon’ble Chief Minister will then recommend the panel according to her preference to the Chancellor recording her opinion, if any, against any name, The Chancellor will then appoint the VC. # Democracy wins again,” state Education minister Bratya Basu wrote on his X handle immediately after the apex court’s verdict.

A statement from the The Educationists’ Forum read: “Cutting through the illegalities imposed by the Chancellor on the higher education sector of West Bengal, Hon’ble Supreme Court has today affirmed the principle of fair selection through due process under former CJI Justice Lalit and has accorded primacy to the consideration by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the state”.