The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed for a month further proceedings on a notification issued by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan in his capacity as Chancellor for constituting search-cum-selection committees for selecting Vice-Chancellors of the University of Kerala, Mahatma Gandhi University, and Thunchanth Ezhuthachan Malayalam University.
Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. passed the stay orders when writ petitions filed by the State government and some of the Senate members of the universities challenging the Chancellor’s notification came up for hearing.
The court had on Thursday stayed further proceedings on a notification issued by the Chancellor for constituting the selection committee for the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) on a petition moved by the State government.
The government and other petitioners contended that University Grants Commission regulations and the University Act did not confer any authority on the Chancellor to constitute a search-cum-selection committee for selection of Vice-Chancellors of the universities.
The State government could only constitute such committees by exercising its executive power under Articles 162 and 246 of the Constitution. Besides, it was a settled law that the Chancellor, being a creation of a legislation, could exercise only such powers which the legislation provided for. The Chancellor was not the repository of executive power. Therefore, the notifications were unsustainable in law.
