The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the names of vice chancellors for eight universities in Bengal after the state government and governor C.V. Ananda Bose reached a consensus on the appointments.

However, differences persisted over three universities — University of North Bengal, MAKAUT, and Netaji Subhas Open University — prompting a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to refer these names to a panel led by former CJI U.U. Lalit for fresh consideration.

On Friday, the bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi, examined reports submitted by the Bengal government, represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, and by Attorney-General R. Venkataramani for the governor. Both sides said that while consensus had been reached for eight universities, disagreements remained on three.

The court approved the eight names where agreement had been reached. For the other three, the bench directed the Justice Lalit panel to decide whether a fresh panel should be constituted to shortlist candidates or whether to select from the existing names. To allow the panel time to reach a decision, the matter was adjourned for four weeks.

The case has seen several adjournments over the past year, reflecting ongoing efforts to narrow differences between the governor and the chief minister. The apex court had also held in-chamber meetings with the attorney-general and advocate Gupta.

During a hearing on December 3, 2025, Gupta indicated that the differences primarily involved 5-6 names for various vice-chancellor posts. While granting adjournments, CJI Kant had said that further hearings would take place in chambers rather than in open court.

The matter has come up for consideration more than half a dozen times over the past year, but limited progress was made.

On July 8 last year, the Supreme Court had constituted “search cum selection committees” for all universities in Bengal, headed by Justice Lalit, to resolve the deadlock between the chief minister and governor Bose over VC appointments.

The court’s intervention followed appeals by the Bengal government and PIL petitioners challenging concurrent Calcutta High Court judgments that had upheld interim appointments made by the governor amid disagreements with the chief minister over names for more than 34 vice-chancellor posts in the state. Some names had been cleared through apex court orders.