The Keralam government and Governor have reached a formal settlement regarding the appointments of Vice-Chancellors (V-C) to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) and Digital University Kerala (or Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology) (DUK).

Ending months of protracted legal conflict, both parties informed the Supreme Court of the resolution. Following the consensus, the Supreme Court disposed of the petitions filed by the Governor, who also serves as the Chancellor of the State-run universities, regarding the appointments.

The special leave petitions (civil) were concluded by a Bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi during a special Lok Adalat session ‘2026 Samadhan Samaroh’ on August 23.

Terms of settlement

Under the terms of the settlement, Ciza Thomas will continue as the V-C of KTU, while Saji Gopinath will continue to serve as the V-C of DUK.

The resolution was achieved through a Pre-Special Lok Adalat conciliation meeting organised by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Thiruvananthapuram, ahead of the Supreme Court’s Lok Adalat session.

The formal settlement document was executed between P. Aswathy, Deputy Secretary at the Governor’s Secretariat representing the Chancellor, and S. Sunil Kumar, Joint Secretary of the Higher Education department representing the State of Keralam, before the Secretary of DLSA, Thiruvananthapuram.

Legal issues, contentions

As part of the terms submitted before the Supreme Court, both parties agreed that the current appointments of the V-Cs in both universities will continue, while the broader legal issues and contentions raised in the petitions will be left open. Moreover, the State government proposed necessary amendments in the University Act to make the provisions in tune with the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.

The appointments of Dr. Thomas and Dr. Gopinath had been notified by the Governor based on a panel submitted by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia Commission and based on mutual consensus with the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government. While the appointments had materialised, the pending litigation remained before the Supreme Court until the formal settlement terms were filed and ratified during the Lok Adalat proceedings.