NDLI: State of West Bengal Vs. Anindya Sundar Das & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Universities – Vice-Chancellor
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Dismissed
Headnote	Universities – Vice-Chancellor – Re-appointment of – Challenge to – Calcutta University Act, 1979 – ss. 8 and 60 – High Court allowed petition u/Art.226 seeking a writ of quo warranto against the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Calcutta University – The High Court held that the State government had no authority to appoint or re-appoint the VC under s.8 of the Act, or by taking recourse to the residuary provisions of s. 60 of the Act – As a consequence, the order issued by the Special Secretary to the Government of West Bengal re-appointing the incumbent VC of Calcutta University was set aside – The High Court held that the scheme of s.8 empowers only the Chancellor to appoint, re-appoint, temporarily appoint or remove the VC; and s. 60 to which recourse was taken by the State government provides only for the removal of difficulties arising in giving effect to the provisions of the statute – Apart from the reasoning based on the provisions of the Act, the High Court also held that the UGC Regulations envisage that the appointment of a VC can be made only by a Visitor / Chancellor, and this came in the way of the State government making the appointment – On appeal, held: There is neither an express provision nor a necessary intendment by which it could be inferred that the power which is entrusted to the Chancellor to appoint a VC is taken away in the case of reappointment – A re-appointment is the appointment of an existing incumbent who fulfils the conditions of eligibility – The power of appointment including of reappointment is entrusted to the Chancellor and not the State Government – The amended provisions of s. 8(2)(a) of the Act cannot be construed to mean that the power of reappointment has been taken away from the Chancellor and entrusted to the State government – Where there is a specific provision, as in the present case s. 8(2)(a), it was not open to the State government to conjure up a lacunae or omission and purportedly exercise the power to remove difficulties – The State government chose the incorrect path under s. 60 by misusing the “removal of difficulty clause” to usurp the power of the Chancellor to make the appointment – The government cannot misuse the “removal of difficulty clause” to remove all obstacles in its path which arise due to statutory restrictions – Allowing such actions would be antithetical to the rule of law – In the guise of removing the difficulties, the State cannot change the scheme and essential provisions of the Act – Even if the provisions of the Act allowed the appointment of the Vice Chancellor by the State government, it would be in violation of the UGC Regulations – The Regulations become part of the statute framed by Parliament and will prevail – The judgment of the High Court is correct in law and on fact and does not warrant interference in appeal – The State government could not have issued the order re-appointing the VC – The University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations 2018 – Regulation 7.3 – Constitution of India – Art. 226.Writs – Writ of Quo Warranto – Held: The writ of quo warranto can be issued where an appointment has not been made in accordance with the law – Constitution of India – Article 226 – Service Law – Appointment. Interpretation of Statutes – Where there is a specific provision, it is not open to the State government to conjure up a lacunae or omission and purportedly exercise the power to remove difficulties – Misusing the limited power granted to make minor adaptations and peripheral adjustments in a statute for making its implementation effective, to side-step the provisions of the statute altogether would defeat the purpose of the legislation. Interpretation of Statutes – A statute must be read to avoid a construction which would make certain provisions or terms meaningless or redundant – An effort must be made to read the provisions of the statute in a holistic manner so as to imbue it with meaning and content.
Judge	Hon'ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud
Neutral Citation	2022 INSC 1068
Petitioner	State Of West Bengal
Respondent	Anindya Sundar Das & Ors.
SCR	[2022] 13 S.C.R. 946
Judgement Date	2022-10-11
Case Number	6706

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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