The issue of appointment of Vice-Chancellors to State-run universities is heating up once again. While Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan said on Tuesday that the government had sent a proposal to the Governor for the expansion of Search Committees for V-Cs, the Madras High Court has ordered notice to the UGC and the State government on a plea seeking urgent intervention over the failure to appoint V-Cs.

The petition made two pleas: either a direction to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to step in and draw up a scheme for the appointment of V-Cs under Section 12 of the UGC Act, 1956, or the appointment of a high-powered panel headed by a retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a Supreme Court judge to oversee the process of appointment of V-Cs.

The Bench of Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice Arul Murugan posted the case for next hearing on July 29, along with other cases related to V-C appointments.

“The plea is limited to an interim solution for appointment of V-Cs only, pending the decision by the court on the validity of the Acts,” said Senior Advocate N.L. Rajah, counsel for the petitioner, P. Bhaskar.

“Fifteen universities are headless, five more are going to be, soon. This is sure to have affected the students, the standard of education, and the finance flow of these universities,” Mr. Rajah said.

The Tamil Nadu situation was quite similar to that of West Bengal, where a stand-off between the Governor and the State government over V-C appointments had led the Supreme Court to appoint a Search-cum-Selection Committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit, in 2024 to oversee the process, the petition submitted.

Meanwhile, the Higher Education Minister’s statement on expansion of Search Committees has raised hopes of a truce between the Lok Bhavan and Fort St. George. In October 2024, the then Governor, R.N. Ravi, had directed the State government to notify a search committee with four members, including a UGC Chairperson’s nominee, for the appointment of a V-C to the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University. The State government objected to this stand, setting off a chain of events and court cases leading to the present stalemate.

In the past couple of weeks, at least two review meetings of the Higher Education Department were chaired by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, where issues pertaining to the stalemate over V-C appointments were discussed as priority. It is reliably learnt that the proposal for expansion of Search Committees was sent to the Law Department for clarification. The ball, now, is in the Governor’s court.