Will intervene if TN govt, Guv cannot resolve V-C appointment row, says SC

CHENNAI: If the Tamil Nadu government and the Governor failed to resolve the feud over the appointment of Vice-Chancellors to State-run universities, it would intervene to find a solution to the issue that has been festering for a year, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

A division bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said this while hearing an application moved by the State government seeking to amend the prayer in its earlier petition challenging Governor RN Ravi's decision to withhold 10 Bills that were sent to him after being adopted by the Assembly.

Posting the matter to January 22 for further hearing, the bench said it would intervene if both sides failed to settle the dispute by then. The bench also noted that the matter has remained unresolved for a year.

In the notification issued in September last year to constitute search committees for identifying candidates for appointment of Vice-Chancellors to several State-run universities, including Bharathiyar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, and Madras University, Governor Ravi insisted that the panels should have nominees of the University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson.

Rejecting this, the State government issued two orders in December constituting search committee members, but without a nominee from the UGC. Exercising his powers as the Chancellor of State-run, Governor Ravi then wrote to the government, asking it to include UGC nominees in the panel.

Aggrieved by this, the State government moved Supreme Court. In the application to amend the previous petition, it sought the top court to declare the notification as ultra vires (beyond his powers or authority) and unconstitutional.

The State also sought the Apex Court to direct the Governor to give assent to the Bills in compliance with the Constitution.