HP High Court backs Chancellor’s discretion in appointing officiating Vice-Chancellor
Shimla, January 2:
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that the expression “amongst the senior faculty members of the University” does not mean that only the senior-most professor is entitled to be appointed as officiating Vice-Chancellor.
Dismissing a writ petition filed by Dr. Rakesh Kumar Kapila, the senior-most professor of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Justice Sandeep Sharma held that Section 24(5) of the HP University of Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry Act, 1986 gives the Chancellor discretion to appoint any senior faculty member as officiating Vice-Chancellor during a temporary vacancy .
Dr. Kapila had challenged the appointment of a junior professor as officiating Vice-Chancellor, arguing that seniority was ignored despite his being first in the seniority list.
He contended that bypassing him violated basic principles of service jurisprudence and could adversely affect his chances for regular appointment.
Rejecting this argument, the Court observed that if the legislature intended the “senior-most” faculty member to be appointed, the statute would have explicitly said so. Instead, the phrase “from amongst the senior faculty members” was consciously used, granting the Chancellor a wider choice .
The Court further noted that in other statutes—such as appointments of Deans—the law specifically uses the term “senior-most”, reinforcing that its absence in Section 24(5) was deliberate. Accepting the petitioner’s interpretation, the Court said, would amount to rewriting the statute, which is impermissible.
Justice Sharma also found no arbitrariness or mala fide in the Chancellor’s decision, noting that the bio-data and service records of both contenders were examined before selecting the respondent as officiating Vice-Chancellor .
However, the Court clarified that the petitioner’s claim for regular appointment as Vice-Chancellor must be considered independently by the duly constituted Selection Committee and should not be influenced by the temporary appointment decision.
With these observations, the petition was dismissed.