Consultation with the Minister-in-charge is mandatory for the appointment of Vice Chancellors, and failure to comply renders such appointments illegal, but an interim authorization to perform duties does not constitute an appointment.

JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was delivered by T.S.SIVAGNANAM, CJ.)

1. This writ petition filed as a Public Interest Litigation by a professor who has 41 years of teaching experience, seeks for issuance of a writ of quo- warranto to declare that the Respondent Nos. 28 to 40 do not have a right to hold office of Vice Chancellor and to quash their appointments. The Respondent No. 1 to 13 are the Chancellors in the different Universities in the State of West Bengal who is none other than his Excellency Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal. It is submitted that the various enactments under which the Universities were established provides the methodology by which the Vice Chancellors will be appointed to the University. The petitioner would state that in 2022, the State of West Bengal appointed 24 Vice Chancellors to the 24 Universities. The said appointments as well as the validity of the West Bengal University Laws Amendment (Act), 2012 and the West Bengal Laws Amendment (Act), 2014 were challenged in a Public Interest Litigation in WPA (P) 170 of 2022. The said writ petition was allowed by judgment dated 14th March, 2023 holding that the Search Committee constituted by the Government of West Bengal did not have any Member nominated by the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and that the Search Committees so constituted were in violation of the UGC Regulations of the year 2018. The Division Bench held that the UGC Regulations, 2018 will prevail over the provisions of the concerned State Universities Act relating to appointment of Vice Chancellors and consequently held that the appointments of the 24 Vice Chancellors were unsustainable in law. There were also other directions issued in the said writ petition as to how the Vice Chancellors have to be appointed in terms of the relevant provisions. The said order passed by the Division Bench was challenged before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the appeal was dismissed. Thereafter the Government of West Bengal made several amendments bringing the State Universities Act in tune with the UGC Regulations, 2018, by passing the West Bengal Universities Laws (Amendment Ordinance), 2013. In the light of the judgment passed by the Division Bench, certain of the Vice Chancellors resigned and in respect of others the term of office came to an end and an order was passed appointing interim Vice Chancellors for a period of 3 months to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the Vice Chancellor as an interim measure and 28 professors were so appointed. The petitioner would state that he has come to know that the Minister-in-charge of the Department of the Higher Education, Government of West Bengal on 18th May, 2023 proposed the name of 27 persons for being appointed as Vice Chancellors for a tenure of 6 months. It is a further case of the petitioner that contrary to the proposal given by the Minister-in- charge. The Chancellor of the respondent Universities without consultation with the Minister-in-charge had made series of appointments of Vice Chancellors. In this regard, the petitioner has referred to the various enactments under which the respondent Universities were constituted and by way of illustration we refer to the Kalyani University Act , 1981. In the said Act, reference has been made to Section 9 (5) (b) and it is submitted that the said provision expressly provides that when a vacancy occurs in the office of a Vice Chancellor by reason of death, resignation or expiry of the term of his office or otherwise, then pending the appointment of a Vice Chancellor, the Chancellor in consultation with the Minister may appoint any person to