Overview
- Calling the situation a deadlock, Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan said the Governor and Chief Minister could not reach consensus on vice-chancellors for two universities.
- The bench directed the Justice (retd.) Sudhanshu Dhulia committee to examine the parties’ correspondence and submit a single recommended candidate for each university in sealed covers by next Wednesday, with a hearing on December 18.
- Attorney General R. Venkataramani attempted to submit a confidential letter from the Chancellor to the Chief Minister, which the bench declined to open.
- Kerala’s Law Minister P. Rajeev and Higher Education Minister R. Bindu met Governor Rajendra Arlekar on December 10, but talks yielded no breakthrough.
- Competing preferences persist: the Chief Minister proposed C. Sathish Kumar for KTU and Saji Gopinath for DUK, the Governor backed Ciza Thomas for KTU and Priya Chandran for DUK, and the State’s principal objection targets Thomas, whom it accuses of disrupting university functioning as interim VC.