After the verdict of the High Court Division Bench on July 14, the removal of the Governor's picks, K Sivaprasad and Ciza Thomas, as the temporary vice chancellors of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology is inevitable. Their temporary tenures had expired on May 27 itself.

The Division Bench, refusing to interfere with the single judge order on May 19, termed the Chancellor's decision to appoint them, ignoring the state government's list of names, "not sustainable in law".

Both the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Act, 2015, and the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology Act, 2021, state that in the event of a vacancy, a temporary VC ("VC for a period not exceeding six months") should be picked from among the names submitted by the government.

The state government's choices for 'stand in' VCs are also limited to three categories by these two Acts: The VC of any other University, the Higher Education secretary or the pro-VC of the  University concerned. The Chancellor (former Governor Arif Mohammad Khan) had refused to endorse even the Higher Education secretary as the temporary VC in these two universities and arbitrarily placed his own candidates at the top.

Dr Kunnummal will stay
The July 14 verdict could be a minor reprieve but has offered no major relief for the LDF government. The Division Bench order cannot be extended, for instance, to boot out the temporary VC of University of Kerala, Dr Mohanan Kunnummal. Reason: The statutes governing these other universities - Kerala, Calicut, Mahatma Gandhi, Kannur, CUSAT - do not have a provision that states that, if there is a vacancy in the VC post, the Chancellor will have to be guided by the recommendation of the government. In these universities, unlike in the Technological and Digital universities, the Chancellor can independently initiate action.

There are no regular VCs in 12 of the 13 universities in Kerala. Only Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur, has one: Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, who incidentally is also the temporary VC of University of Kerala.

LDF dilemma: to search or not to search
This July 14 verdict not only strikes down the appointment of temporary VCs but like other recent HC orders related to the functioning of universities also wants university authorities (the Chancellor and the state government) to take "appropriate steps" to immediately appoint regular VCs in universities.

By "appropriate steps", the court meant the formation of search committees to select the VCs. Catch is, if the LDF government obeys the court and sets in motion the selection process, it can end up being humiliated.

The existing Act has a three-member search committee: one elected by the University Senate, another nominated by the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the third nominated by the Chancellor. The UGC and the Chancellor nominees together would give the BJP-ruled Centre a decisive say in appointing VCs to universities in Kerala.

Sensing the political danger, the LDF government had introduced an amendment to the Universities Act in 2023 to expand the search committees by including two government nominees to the search panel and thus reclaim the state's power to appoint VCs. Former Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, as expected, referred the amendment to President Droupadi Murmu who then refused to give it her assent. Kerala has moved the Supreme Court against this but a verdict seems distant.

So, at this stage, to facilitate the formation of search committees will be to hand over the game to the Governor who the government fears would use his majority in the search committees to appoint his people as VCs. This is why the University Senate (a pro-government body) has kept ignoring the Chancellor's repeated requests to provide its nominee to the three-member search committee for the selection of Kerala University VC.

Gains forfeited
Interestingly, the state has the upper hand in the selection of VCs to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology. In Technological University, the search committee has three members: a member of the 'Board of Governors', nominee of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Chief Secretary (CS). The Board of Governors is a state-heavy body and then there is the CS, who also will have to toe the State Government's line. It is advantage Kerala government.

In the Digital University, the Search-cum-Selection Committee for the VC will have five members: the CS, an expert from Electronics and Information Technology Industry, expert from Academia selected by the Board of Governors, UGC nominee, and state government nominee. Here, too, it is advantage Kerala government (CS + academic expert + state government nominee).

Still, the government has decided not to co-operate in the formation of search committees for these two universities. If it does, the immediate question would be: Why are such committees not being formed for other universities like Kerala, Calicut and Kannur. Existence of irregular VCs, therefore, is a more politically convenient arrangement for the LDF government, at least till the SC gives its verdict on the power of governors.