The Kerala government’s attempt to persuade Governor Rajendra Arlekar in the dispute over the appointment of vice chancellors to the Digital University and Kerala Technological University (KTU) has failed. Although ministers P. Rajeev and R. Bindu met the governor at Raj Bhavan and held discussions on Tuesday, the talks yielded no outcome. The governor also questioned why the chief minister himself did not attend the discussions.
As directed by the Supreme Court, two separate search-cum-selection committees—both headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia—had earlier shortlisted candidates for the vice chancellor posts at both universities. The Chief Minister subsequently recommended C. Sathish Kumar for KTU and Saji Gopinath for the Digital University of Kerala (DUK). However, Governor Arlekar filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court rejecting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recommendations. In the affidavit, the Governor stated that he recommends Ciza Thomas for KTU and Priya Chandran for DUK. The Governor’s choice is backed by the logic that these two are the only candidates common to both panels.
He also noted that no documents detailing the credentials of the candidates recommended by the Chief Minister had been provided to him.
Today, as the minister visited the Governor, the latter remained firm in his position that appointments would not be made based on the list submitted by the chief minister. Arlekar also told the ministers that despite seeking detailed explanations on how the chief minister determined the order of priority in the list, the government has so far been unwilling to provide them.
The Supreme Court had recently stated that if the government and the Governor fail to resolve the issue through discussion, the court would directly appoint the vice chancellors. The ministers visited Raj Bhavan to meet the governor, as the case is scheduled to come up again before the Supreme Court tomorrow.
It seems like a consensus is possible only if the Chief Minister agrees to drop Saji Gopinath and the Governor agrees to drop Cissy Thomas. However, both sides remain rigid in their positions.