Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay for a specific provision that enables the Tamil Nadu government to appoint vice-chancellors to state-run varsities.
The Supreme Court, using its special powers, approved the appointment of vice-chancellors to universities in Tamil Nadu. Based on that, the Tamil Nadu government published the laws related to the appointment of vice-chancellors in the official gazette. Venkatajalapathy from Tirunelveli had filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking an interim stay on this law. The High Court, which heard the case, ordered the Tamil Nadu government to respond to the main petition and adjourned the hearing on the petition seeking an interim stay today.
The case came up for hearing before Justices G.R. Swaminathan and Lakshmi Narayanan. Senior Advocate PS Raman, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, argued that, "The government should be given time to respond to the petition seeking a stay on the Tamil Nadu government's laws,"
Senior advocate P. Wilson, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department, argued, "A case challenging the University Grants Commission rules regarding the appointment of Vice-Chancellors is pending in the Supreme Court. Therefore, a petition has been filed seeking transfer of these cases to the Supreme Court. There is no need to hear this case urgently. The petitioner, a member of the BJP, has filed this case with political motives," he contended.
After the judges allowed the petitioner to present arguments on the petition seeking an interim stay, the senior advocate appearing for the petitioner argued, "This case has been filed to protect universities from political forces. The process of appointing Vice-Chancellors has begun. The Tamil Nadu government has enacted a law in violation of the University Grants Commission rules regarding the appointment of Vice-Chancellors."
Intervening at that time, the government's chief advocate PS Raman said, "This law has been passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and has been approved by the Supreme Court and has come into force. Certain powers have been given to the University Grants Commission Act. The appointment of the search committee is not within the power of the University Grants Commission. The law of the Tamil Nadu government is superior to the rules of the University Grants Commission."
"Therefore, the Tamil Nadu government laws are not illegal. Laws cannot be banned based on speculation. Since detailed arguments have to be presented, 2 weeks should be given to file a reply. The main law does not say to appoint a representative of the University Grants Commission. Even in the current law, only the amendment of the word "Government" has been made instead of the word "Chancellor", he argued.
Wilson maintained, "We should be given time to present arguments. The hearing should be adjourned to tomorrow."
However, the judges refused to accept this request and said that the hearing cannot be adjourned. Wilson argued, "The gazette filed with the petition is incorrect. This gazette is fabricated. It is not authentic. It should be investigated how the petitioner came to know about this. No reasons have been given in the petition for urgent investigation".
Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. Sundaresan, appearing for the University Grants Commission, said, "The laws of the Tamil Nadu government are inconsistent with the rules of the University Grants Commission."
After hearing arguments from all sides, the judges ordered an interim stay on the provisions of the law that gave the government the power of the Chancellor to appoint Vice-Chancellors.
