SC quashes Kerala govt’s decision to reappoint Gopinath Ravindran as Kannur University VC

New Delhi: In a major setback to the Kerala government, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed its decision to reappoint Gopinath Ravindran as vice chancellor of Kannur University after his retirement and criticised its "unwarranted intervention" in the matter.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, found fault with the order of the Chancellor and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan reappointing Ravindran to the post. It set aside the judgements of the single and division bench of the Kerala High Court upholding the reappointment.

The governor is the ex-officio chancellor of universities in a state and as chancellor acts independently of the council of ministers in taking decisions on all university matters.

“We have reached the conclusion that although the notification re-appointing the Respondent number 4 (Ravindran) to the post of vice chancellor was issued by the Chancellor (the governor), yet the decision to reappoint was influenced by extraneous considerations or to put it in other words, by the unwarranted intervention of the state government,” the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.

“The impugned judgement and the order passed by the high court dated February 23, 2022 is hereby set aside and as a consequence, the notification dated November 23, 2021 reappointing the respondent number 4 (Ravindran) as the vice chancellor of the Kannur University is hereby set aside,” the apex court said.

Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Pardiwala said the top court addressed several questions, including whether reappointment is permissible when the tenure is fixed.

“Our final conclusion is that it is now well settled that the writ of quo warranto (by what authority) lies if any appointment to a public office is made in breach of the statute or the rules," the judgement said.

In this particular case, the bench is not concerned with the suitability of Ravindran, it said.

"The suitability of a candidate for appointment to a post is to be judged by the appointing authority and not by the court unless the appointment is contrary to the statutory rules/ provisions,” the judgement said.

The bench said it is the chancellor who has been conferred with competence under the law to appoint or reappoint the vice chancellor.

"No other person, even the pro-chancellor or any superior authority can interfere with the functioning of the statutory authority," it held.

On February 23 last year, a division bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed an appeal against a single judge order upholding the reappointment of Ravindran as vice chancellor. It was done in accordance with the law and that he was not "an usurper to the post", it said.

The plea sought quashing of the reappointment on the ground that a person can hold office of vice chancellor only till the age of 60 and Ravindran, born on December 19, 1960, was overage at the time of his second appointment.