NL Rajah, Senior Counsel, appeared for the Petitioner on behalf of Advocate B. Jagannath. Rabu Manohar, Learned Senior Central Government Standing Counsel appeared for Central Government Ministry of Higher Education & Learned Counsel Sudha Appeared for UGC –
A Public Interest Litigation was filed by P. Baskar seeking a relief in the nature of Writ of Mandamus. The main prayer is Writ of Mandamus directing the Respondents 1 & 2, namely University Grants
Commission to immediately oversee the implementation of Sections
12-14 of the university Grants Commission Act and the UGC
regulations, which were made to be statutorily & mandatorily
binding upon the Respondents vide State of Tamil Nadu, Department of
Higher Education through a plethora of judgements of the Honourable
Supreme Court, upon all government Run Universities of Tamil Nadu
which has no Vice Chancellori with an intention to improve & uplift
academic talent and educaticlnal excellence which has been stalled due
to actions of previous State Government, within a reasonable timeframe
and pass such further or other orders as this Honourable Court may
deem fit and proper in the facts and cireumstances of the present case
and thus render justice.
The Interim Prayers were
A. Ad Interim Direction , that this Honourable Court may be pleased to
appoint a High-Powered Panel comprising preferably of a Former Chief
Justice of a High court, following the judgement of the Honourable
Apex Court in Honourable Justice UULalit in State of West Bengal Vs
Dr. sanat Kumar to oversee search and selection committee, for
appointment of Vice Chancellors across all State Universities in Tamil
Nadu – wherein currently there’s vacaney of Vice chancellors, with a
UGC nominee, to break the logjam & deadlock in appointment of Vice
Chancellors in all of these Universities run by State of Tamil Nadu to
improve academic excellence in the state, based upon the Honourable
supreme court in numerous;udgements and consequently complete
process of appointment of Vice Chancellors within a reasonable
timeframe as fixed by this Honourable eourt as per the constitutional
framework pending disposal of the present case and thus render
justice.
B. Interim Direction directing the 4th Respondent herein to
submit a detailed comprehensive status report
pertaining to a future roadmap for all State Universities in Tamil Nadu
under Department of Higher Education, before this Honourable Court,
within a reasonable timeframe in accordance with law as fixed by this
Honourable court.
NL Rajah, Senior Counsel, appeared for the Petitioner on behalf of Advocate B. Jagannath. Rabu Manohar, Learned Senior Central Government Standing Counsel appeared for Central Government Ministry of Higher Education & Learned Counsel Sudha Appeared for UGC – Respondents 1&2 & Learned Counsel for State Mohammed Fayaz Ali appeared for Respondents 4&7. The Learned Senior Counsel on behalf of the Petitioner pointed out that Education is Paramount in the state and that almost 16 Universities across the state are headless without the appointment of Vice Chancellors as the Search and Selection Committee had not been appointed in any of these Universities across the state. This is due to the attitude of the previous government & this has got nothing to do with the numerous cases that are filed and pending before this Honourable Court and Supreme Court – as the cases only deal with power of the constitutional authorities. Till those attain finality the Higher Education in the State cannot suffer and students cannot be made the victims in this scenario. Leaving the political conundrum aside the logjam and deadlock has to be broken. In a similar situation at the State of West Bengal- the Honourable Supreme Court intervened and appointed an empowered panel to be headed by Former CJI UU Lalit. The Honourable Apex Court has in detail set out the criteria, terms of reference and everything that has to be done on this aspect and as of today the same has been successfully completed in almost 90 percent of the Universities in West Bengal and the logjam has been broken. Similarly, in the present case, since educational excellence has taken a beating the students life is at stake without going into the pendency of the other cases, the Interim Committee has to be formed and that the Panel has to start functioning on same lines as that of State of West Bengal case by Honourable Supreme Court. The Learned Division Bench stated that similar matters are pending for which the Learned Counsel for Petitioner replied that the Respondents can come together along with UGC and the Panel can be formed as the pending cases have nothing to do with the interim prayer. It would take time for the determination of the powers to take finality and 17 Universities cannot be headless and ultimately students cannot suffer.
In this context, the Order of Honourable Supreme Court was also read by the Learned Senior Counsel for Petitioner and the Honourable Division Bench accepted that Education excellence should be paramount. The Honourable Division Bench further asked the State to file the Counter/ Reply with regard to the Honourable Supreme Court judgement in appointment of panel and spell out their stand in detail in the Counter. Since there’s another matter though not similar is to be posted – the present case shall also be posted on 29/07/2026- as a separate case. The learned division bench further opined that the Honourable Supreme Court in detail has clearly laid down everything as to the functions, application call for and terms of reference for the said panel and had stated that this is pertaining to future of state education which will definitely be looked into in this regard but the State also have to respond and they have to be heard.
Private notice was ordered to all and the State reply with regard to this has to be submitted through Counter specifically pertaining to UU Lalit appointment judgement.
Matter adjourned to 29/07/2026
