T.N. legislature fully empowered to take away power to appoint Vice-Chancellors from Governor: State tells Madras High Court

It change into once the Declare legislature which had enacted approved pointers empowering the Governor, in his/her ability as Chancellor, to appoint vice-chancellors to a host of Declare-speed universities and as a result of this truth, the identical legislature is fully entitled to amend those approved pointers and build the authorities as the appointing authority, the Tamil Nadu authorities has argued earlier than the Madras Excessive Court docket.

The submission change into once made in a counter affidavit filed earlier than the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan by Increased Training Secretary P. Shankar. The counter change into once filed essentially based thoroughly on a 2025 writ petition that had challenged the validity of nine modification Acts passed by the Assembly with admire to a host of universities.

Recommend Total P.S. Raman and senior counsel P. Wilson told the Bench that the Excessive Court docket had on Could well honest 21, 2025 stayed the operation of the nine modification Acts to the extent to which the provisions rob away the vitality of the Governor to appoint vice-chancellors. Alternatively, the Supreme Court docket had on February 4, 2026 situation aside the duration in-between advise of the Excessive Court docket.

Since the first case needed to be argued at length for the time being, the A-G requested the court to fix a date sometime right thru the month of June. Alternatively, when the petitioner’s counsel insisted on a brief adjournment, the judges determined to checklist the case on April 9, 2026 after which rob a call on fixing a date for closing listening to. Mr. Wilson told the court the pleadings had been accomplished with the submitting of the counter affidavit.

In his counter, Mr. Shankar told the court the writ petition filed by Kutty alias Passable. Venkatachalapathy of Tirunelveli change into once a politically motivated litigation since the petitioner had suppressed the truth that he change into once a district secretary of Bharatiya Janata Occasion. The Secretary also contended there change into once no quiz of the modification Acts being in contravention of the College Grants Commission (UGC) Guidelines, 2018.

He acknowledged, a vice-chancellor change into once an officer and now now not a instructing team of the university in advise to exercise the UGC Guidelines with admire to his/her appointment. He relied upon the Supreme Court docket’s 2015 decision in Madurai Kamaraj College broken-down vice-chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan’s case to buttress his submission that a vice-chancellor change into once an officer of a college.

Additional, highlighting the Centre’s vitality change into once restricted to decision of standards with admire to higher education, Mr. Shankar acknowledged, such a vitality wouldn’t include the capabilities of regulation and administration of universities which fall beneath the legislative competence of the Declare. “The mandates of the appointing authority of a vice-chancellor does now now not possess any order bearing to standards of upper education,” he acknowledged.

He urged the court to brush off the writ petition by imposing exemplary costs.