The rift between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Rajendra Arlekar deepened further on Friday when Mr. Vijayan accused Mr. Arlekar of blatantly violating the Supreme Court (SC) directive on the appointment of vice-chancellors.
Interacting with mediapersons on the day, the Chief Minister wondered how the Governor dared to flout the Supreme Court directive on appointment of VCs to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) and Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology. Mr. Vijayan’s reply came in the backdrop of Mr. Arlekar telling the apex court that he favored the appointment of Ciza Thomas and Priya Chandran as vice-chancellors of technology and digital universities, overlooking Mr. Vijayan’s objection to Ms. Thomas.
List of priorities
The state government followed the direction of the Central Government to give a priority list of candidates for the post and the governor was to select them from the list. However, the governor seems to have disregarded the priority list and even went to the extent of selecting a candidate whom the chief minister found unfit for the post, he said.
Meanwhile, sources close to the governor said the chief minister’s comments on the matter stemmed from his ignorance of the Supreme Court order regarding the appointment of the VC.
Responding to Mr. Vijayan’s allegation that the Governor had violated the apex court’s directives, the Lok Bhavan maintained that the Governor had acted in letter and spirit of the court order. Either the Chief Minister must have been misinformed about the court’s directive or he did not know what the court said. It could also be that the Chief Minister is conveniently distorting the facts, they argued.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Chancellor can have his reservations about the candidates recommended by the Chief Minister for the appointment of the VC. The court had earlier said it would intervene in the matter if a consensus was not reached between the chancellor and the chief minister, sources said.
Published – 05 Dec 2025 20:43 IST
