Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF Government has prepared a draft ordinance to amend the clauses related to the appointment of the Vice Chancellor in the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology Act, 2021. The cabinet meeting held on August 6 decided to forward the draft to the Governor for promulgation.

If the Governor obliges, the ordinance will change the composition of the Search-cum-Selection Committee that will scout for the VC. Subject to amendments are clauses 3, 4 and 6 of Section 11 of the Digital University Act, 2021. 

Clause 3 deals with the constitution of the Search-cum-Selection Committee. Clause 4 deals with the process of preparing the Search-cum-Selection Committee. And Clause 6 speaks of the VC's age limit. The granular details of the ordinance are still kept guarded. 

An official government release issued after the Cabinet meeting said that the amendments were made in accordance with UGC Regulations and the recent Supreme Court verdicts on the issue. 

Sources in the Chief Minister's Office said that the amendments were based on the 2022 Supreme Court verdict that termed as "illegal" then Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's appointment of Dr M S Rajashree as VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.

The 2022 SC order had found that the appointment had violated the UGC Regulations, 2013. While the Regulations say that the Search-cum-Selection Committee should submit a "panel of names" to the Chancellor, the list from which the Chancellor picked Rajashree had just one name.

However, more relevant to the latest draft amendment ordinance is another anomaly that the 2022 order flags. It pointed out that "the members of the Search Committee shall be persons of eminence in the sphere of higher education."

In the Digital University Act, one of the five members of the Search Committee is the Chief Secretary, a bureaucrat unrelated to the Higher Education sector. The amendment will now take out the CS from the group.

However, it is not clear whether the CS will be substituted by another official or the size of the Search Panel will be reduced to three. The Chief Minister's Office refused to divulge details. The UGC Regulations say the Search panel strength could be either three or five. Most other universities, including Kerala and even Technological University, have a three-member panel.

Other members of the Digital University Search Panel now are: Electronics and Information Technology Industry expert, Academia expert selected by the Board of Governors (a pro-state government body), the UGC nominee, and the State Government nominee. 

The only condition set by the UGC Regulations is that "one member of the Search-cum-Selection Committee shall be nominated by the Chairman, University Grants Commission." In other words, the state government, when it makes laws for its universities, is free to make the other members its nominees, and thus securing the upper hand in picking the VCs. 

The draft ordinance on the appointment of Digital University VC has been drawn up at a time when the conciliatory talks between Governor Rajendra Arlekar and the LDF government have not achieved its objectives. The latest cause of conflict is the appointment of Dr Ciza Thomas and K Sivaprasad as VCs to the Digital University and the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, respectively. A High Court division bench had said their appointments were not sustainable in law, and so had to be removed. However, on the basis of a July 30 Supreme Court order, the Governor restored them back as VCs.