Chennai, May 21, 2025 — The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the enforcement of a series of controversial amendments passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, which sought to strip the Governor of his authority to appoint Vice-Chancellors to state-run universities, transferring the power to the State government.
The decision was issued by a vacation bench comprising Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan, following a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by K. Venkatachalapathy — a Tirunelveli-based advocate and district secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Court Rejects State’s Plea to Delay Hearing The State, represented by Advocate-General P.S. Raman and senior counsel P. Wilson, appeared for the Chief Secretary and Higher Education Secretary and argued that there was no urgency to hear the matter during summer vacation. They requested time to file a detailed counter affidavit.
However, the bench rejected the request, stating that it found sufficient grounds to proceed with the matter and issued a temporary stay on the implementation of the amendments.
Petitioner Challenges Amendments on 56 Grounds The petitioner, through senior counsel Dama Seshadri Naidu and assisted by V.R. Shanmuganathan, challenged the legality of the amendments on 56 separate grounds. Central to the argument was that the State’s legislation was in conflict with Regulation 7.3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations, 2018, which outlines the procedure for appointing Vice-Chancellors and mandates alignment with national academic standards.
State Argues for Transfer to Supreme Court In response, the Higher Education Secretary, C. Samayamoorthy, filed a memo asserting that the PIL was politically motivated, citing the petitioner’s affiliation with the BJP. The memo further argued that no immediate urgency justified the court’s decision to hear the matter during vacation.
The State also informed the High Court that it had already filed a transfer petition before the Supreme Court, seeking to club this case with similar matters already pending before the apex court. A mention was reportedly made before Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai on May 19, who had orally asked the State’s counsel to inform the High Court about the pending transfer plea.
Next Steps
The case has been adjourned until June 12, with the High Court’s interim order in effect until then. The Supreme Court’s decision on whether to consolidate the PIL with ongoing related cases could significantly impact the legal path ahead.
This development marks a crucial pause in the ongoing power tussle between the State government and the Governor’s office over control of higher education appointments in Tamil Nadu — a matter that continues to stir political and constitutional debate across the country.
