Supreme Court refuses to stay Kerala High Court order setting aside appointment of Dr. K Riji John as KUFOS Vice Chancellor

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a Kerala High Court verdict setting aside the appointment Dr. K Riji John as Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) [Dr K Riji John v Dr KK Vijayan]..The plea was filed by John through advocate Anne Mathew challenging an order of the High Court holding that John’s selection was contrary to the University Grants Commission Regulations, 2018 and that the search-cum-selection committee was also violative of the guidelines.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli issued notice in the plea but refused to stay the High Court’s decision."Issue notice. Counter affidavit shall be filed within a period of three weeks. List the Special Leave Petitions on December 13, 2022. 4 Any action, in the meantime, will abide by the result of these proceedings," the order said..The petitioner submitted that UGC regulations specifically exclude Agricultural Universities and the High Court failed to take this into account.Additionally, ‘agricultural education and research’ falls under the State List which is the exclusive domain of the State, it was contended.Therefore, the Kerala University Fisheries and Ocean Studies Act was applicable with regard to the procedure for selection an appointment of a Vice Chancellor.“It is submitted that the University Grants Commission consciously excluded the Agricultural education from the purview of the UGC regulations in view of the fact that agriculture and agricultural education are exclusively within the domain of the State legislature,” the petition said..As a consequence of this, there was no need to follow the selection procedure as per UGC regulations for the appointment of a Vice Chancellor to an agricultural University.Further, the petitioner highlighted the High Court’s error in proceeding on the premise that the selection of the Vice Chancellor of KUFOS would come within the concurrent list which deals with education and universities.“When a specific entry deals with agricultural education, Entry 25 in the concurrent list ought not to have been referred to by the High Court,” it was submitted.Hence, it was argued that the appointment was in conformity with the procedure prescribed under the Act and could not be invalidated for not conforming to the UGC regulations..[Read Order]