VTU defended the reappointment, arguing that the procedure cited by Tubati did not apply when an incumbent vice-chancellor was granted another term
Nageswara Rao Tubati, professor and head of mechanical engineering at Oxford College of Engineering and an aspirant for the post, approached the high court last year after Vidyashankar was reappointed in Sept 2025, following the completion of his first term. Bengaluru: Karnataka high court has dismissed a petition challenging the continuance of S Vidyashankar as vice-chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), holding that his reappointment for a second three-year term didn’t require a fresh search committee.
“The provision doesn’t summon a fresh search committee; it doesn’t reopen the field to applications; it doesn’t command a second comparative assessment,” the judge observed. “An extension, which the statute itself permits at the discretion of the chancellor, cannot be compelled to retrace, step for step, the entire procedural journey of the original appointment, when neither the enactment nor the binding precedent demands it. ” Tubati sought a declaration that Vidyashankar was not entitled to hold office. He contended that a search committee comprising a University Grants Commission nominee, as required under the regulations, had not been constituted before Vidyashankar’s reappointment. He also alleged that several proceedings were pending against the vice-chancellor.