New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the re-appointment of vice-chancellor of Kannur University. A three-judge bench by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it is the chancellor, who has been conferred with competence under the Act, 1996, to appoint or re-appoint the vice-chancellor, no other person even the pro-chancellor or any superior authority can interfere with the functioning of the statutory authority.
Justice Pardiwala, pronouncing the judgment on behalf of the bench, said: “If any decision is taken by the statutory authority at the behest or on the suggestion of a person who has no statutory role to play the same would be patently illegal. Thus, it is the decision-making process which vitiated the entire process of re-appointment of respondent no. 4 as the vice-chancellor”. The apex court found that the re-appointment was vitiated by interference from the State Government.
“We allow this appeal and the impugned judgment and order passed by the high court on February 23, 2022, is hereby set aside. As a consequence, notification dated November 23, 2021, re-appointing respondent no. 4 as vice chancellor of the Kannur University is hereby quashed”, said justice Pardiwala.
In October this year, in an apparent setback to the Kerala government in the re-appointment of Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Raveendran, the apex court had observed that re-appointment can be made only in accordance with legal norms for the appointment of a VC.
The apex court judgment came on an appeal challenging the February 2022 judgment delivered by a division bench of the Kerala High Court approving the re-appointment of the VC and affirming the December 2021, single-judge bench judgment.
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