Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. | Photo credit: ANI
The Supreme Court has taken serious notice of the Kerala government’s statement on Friday (November 28, 2025) that Governor Rajendra Arlekar is “not considering” a report by a retired Supreme Court judge on the long-pending appointment of regular vice-chancellors of two state-run universities, which was forwarded to him by the Chief Minister.
The Governor of Kerala is the Chancellor of both the universities.
A bench headed by Justice JB Pardiwala said the report of the former judge of the court cannot be treated as a “mere piece of paper” by the governor in his capacity as chancellor.
Justice Pardiwala authored the August 8 judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor case. That verdict set deadlines for governors to deal with a backlog of state bills awaiting approval. The judgment led to a presidential reference in which the Supreme Court clarified that governors cannot be bound by time frames. The turn of events led to public debates about the delay of gubernatorial offices and the subsequent impact on federalism.
A long dead end
The case dealt with the long-running impasse between the state and the governor over the appointment of vice-chancellors at the APJ Abdul Kalam University of Technology and the University of Digital Sciences.
The Supreme Court intervened on August 18 to appoint Justice (retired) Sudhanshu Dhulia to head the selection committee for the search to recommend names for appointment to the vice-chancellors of the two universities. The court ordered that the shortlisted names, approved by Justice Dhulia, be submitted to the Chief Minister for consideration. An order dated 18 August empowered the Chief Minister to recommend shortlisted names to the Governor in the order in which Vice-Chancellors are preferred for appointment.
In September, the governor’s office returned to the high court seeking modification of the August 18 order regarding the chief minister’s role in the appointment process. The governor argued that neither the University Grants Commission nor the state laws governing the two universities envisage a role for the chief minister in the appointment process. The plea argued that the chief minister’s involvement would be tantamount to a person adjudicating his own case.
In an urgent oral argument before Justice Pardiwala on Friday, the Kerala government, represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta and advocate CK Sasi, said Justice Dhulia conveyed the report to the Chief Minister, who in turn forwarded it to the Governor.
“Has the Chancellor looked at Justice Dhulia’s report?” Justice Pardiwala asked counsel appearing for the chancellor.
The lawyer replied that although the notice had been received, the entire record had not been forwarded.
“This is not just an ordinary piece of paper. A former Supreme Court judge has looked into it. So you have to look at the report and take an appropriate call,” Justice Pardiwala verbally addressed the governor’s party.
The bench reminded the defense counsel that a committee headed by Justice Dhulia had appointed the court with the consent of all the parties in the case.
“The chancellor is now expected to look at the report submitted by the committee headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and proceed accordingly in the matter… We do not understand why the non-acceptance of the record stands in the way of looking at the report submitted by the committee. In such circumstances, we now expect the chancellor to take an appropriate decision in accordance with the committee’s report which he has noticed.”
The bench scheduled the hearing of the case next week.
Published – 28 Nov 2025 21:50 IST
