WB Universities VC Appointments | Supreme Court Seeks Views Of Governor & Govt On 12 Unanimous Recommendations Of Justice Lalit's Committee

In the matter pertaining to the appointment of Vice Chancellors for certain West Bengal Universities, the Supreme Court today noted that names of 12 candidates for appointment as Vice-Chancellor to 12 universities have been unanimously recommended by the Search-cum-Selection Committee.

The Curt sought the views of the University Chancellor (Governor) and the State Government on these unanimous recommendations. Attorney General for India R Venkataramani and Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta were asked to get the instructions from the Chancellor and the Government, respectively.

"After considering academic record, experience and opinions of the Chief Minister and Hon'ble Chancellor, and the written vision statements of the candidates, the Search-cum-Selection Committees have given their preference list for 15 universities. The report reveals that for 12 universities, the Search-cum-Selection Committee was unanimous. For the remaining 3 universities, two different preference list are prepared by different groups within the Committee", observed the Court.

As regards West Bengal State University and Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, the Court noted that the Committee would be holding interactions with the candidates today. As such, it passed the following order,

"As of now, it seems to us that there shall not be any controversy with respect to appointment of the 12 VCs where the Committee has given unanimous opinion. With a view to facilitate such appointments, photostat copy of the unanimous recommendations made by the Committee, alongwith forwarding letter of Justice UU Lalit, has been handed over to ld. AG as well as Sh. Jaideep Gupta, ld. senior counsel for the state...They are requested to have formal instructions in terms of the observations made hereinabove."

Insofar as a clarification was sought by Justice UU Lalit qua the West Bengal State University, the Court clarified that the Search-cum-Selection Committee shall consider rest of the candidates who were initially recommended by the Committee in alphabetical order. "On reconsideration, the Committee shall fix their inter-se order of merit", it said.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh heard the matter and re-listed it on Friday.

It may be recalled that earlier, the Court had modified the directions issued in July and left it upon Justice UU Lalit-led Committee to determine its own order of preference regarding Vice-Chancellor appointments for 15 remaining universities.

Today, at the outset, Justice Kant said that the Committee recommendations had come in a sealed envelope, wherein it was stated that the Committee members were unanimous in their views qua 12 candidates' appointment as Vice-Chancellors. There was however divergence in views regarding appointment of VCs for 3 universities.

Background

The Court was dealing with a special leave petition filed by the State of West Bengal challenging the June 2023 judgment of the 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.

In July last year, the Court delivered a judgment, constituting Search-cum-Selection Committees for Universities under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit. The Committees, encompassing five members, were to prepare a panel of three names for each university for VC appointments, alphabetically and not in order of merits. Three months were given to complete the process. The Court also made it clear that it will make the final decision in cases where one party objects to the shortlisted names and the other party does not accept such objections.

Pursuant to recommendations made by the Committee and following the procedure laid down in the judgment, Vice Chancellors to 17 out of 35 state universities were appointed. These selections were also duly approved by the Chancellor. In August, given a divergence in the views of the Chief Minister and the Chancellor qua certain candidates, the Supreme Court modified its previous directions and entrusted Justice Lalit and the Selection Committee with the responsibility of independently determining the most suitable candidates for appointment to 15 universities.

Appearance: Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta and Dr AM Singhvi (for the State of West Bengal); Attorney General R Venkataramani (for Governor CV Ananda Bose); Advocate Dr Ghaples Bandyopadhyay

Case Title: State of West Bengal v. Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh & Ors. | Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 17403 of 2023 

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