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SC seeks replies of Bengal guv and govt on list of VC nominations
The Supreme Court asked West Bengal's governor and government to respond to a list of vice chancellor candidates for 15 universities amid ongoing disputes.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the West Bengal governor and the state government on a list of vice chancellors recommended by an independent search-cum-selection committee headed by former chief justice of India (CJI) for appointment to 15 state universities.
The court had asked the justice Lalit committee on August 1 to find a way out of the stalemate between governor CV Anand Bose (as chancellor of state universities) and chief minister Mamata Banerjee which impacted the governance of these universities with the office of governor raising objections to the names forwarded by the CM.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh received the committee’s report in a sealed cover and directed the same to be shared with Attorney General R Venkataramani appearing for the governor and advocate Jaideep Gupta for the WB government, The court posted the matter for Friday and asked the two sides to take “formal instructions” on the recommendations made by the committee.
The committee, also comprising experts in the field, returned unanimous recommendations for 12 out of 15 universities while in three universities, the committee members had a difference of opinion in the order of preference while recommending the first three choices as V-C.
“It seems there should not be any difficulty for appointing 12 V-Cs where unanimous recommendations have been made by the search-cum-selection committee,” the bench said. As regards the three universities where the recommendation is not unanimous, the court noted that two different preference lists have been prepared by groups within the committee. Besides the 15, the court was informed that selection of V-C to two state universities - Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University and WB State University, the same was scheduled on Monday (September 22).
AG Venkataramani told the court that after going through the committee’s report, he will come back on Friday with a response clarifying that the idea is not to take an adverse stand. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the state said, “Let the 12 universities where there is no dispute among the committee go through. At least, these appointments can be made.”
The court was hearing a petition filed by the state of West Bengal challenging the delay by the Governor to clear the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of 36 universities. While 19 appointments got approved with the intervention of the justice Lalit committee, the tussle remained over 17 varsities. Here, the Governor did not approve the first preference candidate in the panel of three names sent by the chief minister.
In its August 1 order the court said that while deciding on the names of 15 V-Cs, justice Lalit and companion members of the Selection Committee need not adhere to the order of preference given by the chief minister. “In other words, they will independently assess the suitability,” the order said. While arriving at a final decision, the court instructed the committee to consider the opinion and remarks submitted by the Chancellor and also give “due weightage” to the reasons given by CM while recommending the order of preference.
