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State of West Bengal vs. Anindya Sundar Das & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1068Decided 11 Oct 2022
Civil Appeal No. 6706 of 2022

Background

Dr Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee was appointed Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Calcutta University in 2017 by the Chancellor for a four-year term. When her term was ending in August 2021, the State government's proposals for re-appointment were not accepted by the Chancellor, who instead granted her a three-month extension. The State government then itself issued a notification re-appointing her, invoking the "removal of difficulty" clause (Section 60) of the Calcutta University Act, 1979, since it disagreed with the Chancellor's decision. An alumnus and practicing advocate challenged this re-appointment before the Calcutta High Court through a writ of quo warranto, and the High Court set aside the State's order, holding the State had no power to appoint or re-appoint the VC. Both the State and the VC appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's judgment and dismissed the appeals. It held that under the Calcutta University Act, only the Chancellor, not the State government, has the power to appoint or re-appoint the Vice-Chancellor, and that the State government misused the "removal of difficulty" clause (Section 60), which is meant only for minor, peripheral adjustments to make a statute workable, to unlawfully usurp the Chancellor's core statutory power. The Court also held that even independent of the Act's own scheme, the appointment violated the binding UGC Regulations, 2018, which govern the process for appointing Vice-Chancellors and prevail over conflicting state provisions as a matter of Central law under Article 254. Since the appointment was contrary to both the statute and the UGC Regulations, a writ of quo warranto was rightly issued.

Lesson Learnt

A "removal of difficulty" clause in a statute cannot be stretched by the executive to bypass or override the substantive scheme of the law; and statutory appointments to posts like university Vice-Chancellor must also independently satisfy binding UGC Regulations, which prevail over any conflicting state law or executive action.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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