Madras HC stays law barring Governor from appointing VCs

The Madras High Court on Wednesday stayed amendments passed by the Tamil Nadu government last month that sought to transfer the power to appoint Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of state-run universities from the Governor to the State government.A vacation bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayan passed the order amidst high courtroom drama and vehement opposition from the State government.The Court granted such interim stay while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by K Venkatachalapathy, a lawyer, challenging the constitutional validity of the recent amendments.
The petitioner claimed that the twelve amendments enacted by the State government were in direct conflict with the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations, a central legislation. He argued that these Regulations mandate that Vice-Chancellors must be appointed by the Chancellor. In Tamil Nadu, the Governor, by virtue of office, functions as the Chancellor of all state universities. The amendments, the PIL alleged, sought to override the Governor’s role.
The amendments in question were part of a series of legislative changes passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly following a Supreme Court order dated April 8. That order had pulled up Governor RN Ravi for delaying assent to 12 bills passed by the State Assembly,most of them concerning the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. The Supreme Court had deemed 10 of those bills as having received valid assent