Kerala Guv Slams 'Judicial Overreach' After SC Asks Committee to Suggest List of Names for V-C Posts

Days after the Supreme Court asked a committee headed by a retired judge to suggest a list of names for the post of regular vice chancellors in two government universities in Kerala, Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar lambasted the apex court over its intervention.

“Kannur University judgment respects the right of the Chancellor in choosing the V-Cs. After some years, all those provisions are overlooked by the Supreme Court and its judges. Search committees should be constituted by the Chancellor. In the Kannur University judgement, they accepted this fact. But later on, the judges say “no, the search committee will be constituted by us. You have got to follow this (the court’s decision)””, said Arlekar on Sunday (December 14), reported The Hindu.

Arlekar made the remarks while conferring the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Award 2025 to former Chief Justice of India -CJI and former Kerala governor P. Sathasivam in Thiruvananthapuram.

"Taking away the tasks of every institution and doing them themselves-by the courts-is not correct," Arlekar said.

He said that amounts to judicial overreach, reported The Hindu.

The bench said so on December 11 while a Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan, asked a committee headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia (retired) to suggest a list of names for vice chancellors to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology in Kerala.

A long stalemate between the Kerala government and the state's governor had earlier this year prompted the apex court to constitute the search committee headed by Justice Dhulia to shortlist names for VC appointments.

It had said so after it noted that the two authorities have not been able to form a consensus and there is no possibility of it in the future as well. The top court ordered that the Justice Dhulia Committee will now recommend one name each.