Refer VC appointment issue to President, SUCC urges governor, ETEducation
Thiruvananthapuram: Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) urged governor Rajendra Arleker to refer the matter of vice-chancellor appointments in Kerala Technological University and Digital University of Kerala to the President. SUCC, which expressed reservations over the impact of the alleged overarching judicial intervention in the selection of VCs, said the practice could cost the higher education system in the country dearly.In the memorandum submitted in the wake of a Supreme Court constitutional bench ruling that courts can’t impose strict timelines on governors or the President for acting on state bills, SUCC said the practice of judiciary-appointed committees choosing VC candidates, bypassing university statutes and UGC regulations, could undermine the autonomy and academic integrity of universities in the state and country.
Referring to the Supreme Court decision to accord priority to chief minister’s preference over that of chancellor, SUCC claimed the decision to accord more weightage to CM’s preference in the selection of VC candidates was against university rules, UGC regulations and SC orders.
“The present situation, where mechanisms fashioned through judicial directions operate outside the framework of the State University Acts and the mandatory UGC regulations, thereby displacing the chancellor’s statutory authority, risks placing the entire higher education system under de facto judicial superintendence. Such an approach not only erodes the constitutional balance between the executive and the judiciary but also threatens to override the institutional autonomy of universities, destabilise academic governance and set a precedent for continued judicial intrusion in core academic functions,” it said.”If this trajectory continues, the state’s university system may be pushed into a framework where academic leadership will be determined by judicially constituted committees, rather than by statutory authorities. This would have long-term, irreversible consequences for the higher education sector across the state and the nation,” the memorandum said. The matter should be escalated to the President of India so that the higher education ecosystem would be protected from further distortion, it added.
Source link
