The Supreme Court on Friday asked attorney-general R. Venkataramani to ensure that the eight candidates whose names were approved for the post of vice-chancellor in state-aided universities by Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose be appointed within a week.

The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice K.V. Viswanathan also orally told the attorney-general and the Bengal government, represented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta, to ensure that there is no politicisation of the appointment process as the court is concerned about protecting academic excellence and the interests of the students.

“Don’t force us to take serious steps,” the bench gently cautioned the counsel during the hearing.

During the brief hearing on Friday, Venkataramani, appearing for Bose, informed the bench that the governor, who is also ex-officio chancellor of all state-aided universities, had approved eight more names for appointment but returned seven names with objections.

Singhvi then told the bench that no such communication about the objections to the seven names had been sent to the state government.

Singhvi said the state should have been informed if there were objections and the government would have recommended another set of names.

The bench later adjourned the matter for further hearing to July 12.

On September 15, 2023, the bench had asked the Bengal government, the state’s governor and the UGC to each suggest three to five names for the formation of a court-appointed “search committee” to decide on the appointment of vice-chancellors of various universities in the state and end a protracted tussle between the governor and the government over who had the ultimate authority to appoint VCs.

The apex court had passed the directions on an application moved by the state saying the chancellor and the UGC had failed to respond to any of the communications/reminders sent by the government seeking a nominee from them to constitute the search and selection committee so that full-term vice-chancellors could be appointed.

The application by the state further complained that the registrars of the various universities had been asked by Raj Bhavan not to attend review meetings convened by the state government.

The chancellor’s counsel submitted in the court that correspondence had not been made since the state education minister had made comments about the chancellor.

The court had passed the directions while dealing with the special leave petition filed by the Bengal government through its department of higher education against the June 28, 2023, judgment/order passed by a division bench of Calcutta High Court dismissing a public interest litigation that sought quashing of the appointment/authorisation of vice-chancellors in various universities in the state by the governor, bypassing the state government.

The Bengal government had supported the PIL and opposed the appointments.

The governor had made the appointments mentioned in the PIL between April 14 and May 31 last year for 13 universities allegedly without consulting the state government, triggering the slugfest between Raj Bhavan and Nabanna.