Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar. File photo: Special arrangement
The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 18, 2025) recorded the appointment of two regular Vice-Chancellors to the State-run APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan recorded the Court’s appreciation for both the Governor and the Chief Minister for bringing to an end to this “saga”.
Justice Pardiwala said universities cannot function without regular Vice-Chancellors.
Dr. Ciza Thomas and Dr. Saji Gopinathan were appointed as Vice-Chancellors of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, respectively.
These are the first regular appointments to State-run universities in the last five years, a period during which most institutions were helmed by interim V-Cs.
Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, on December 4, conveyed to the Supreme Court his preference for their appointments. Governor Arlekar had said he preferred both names for the respective posts, though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan objected to Dr. Thomas. Mr. Arlekar had said the Chief Minister’s objection to Dr. Thomas was based merely on news reports and not on records.
The appointments, notified by Lok Bhavan, came after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dropped his long-held objection to Dr. Thomas’ elevation, while the Governor followed suit in the case of Dr. Gopinath, as both sides accepted a compromise formula following a conciliatory meeting held two days ago.
Annoyed by the absence of consensus among both parties, the Supreme Court had asked the search committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Sudhanshu Dhulia to recommend names for the two posts. He was appointed the Court to head a search-cum-selection committee to recommend names for appointment as Vice Chancellors of the two universities.
Lok Bhavan stated that the appointments would be formally reported to the Supreme Court on Thursday (December 17).
Published – December 18, 2025 11:25 am IST
