In a significant legal setback for the Tamil Nadu government, the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the newly enacted laws empowering the Chief Minister to appoint Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of state-run universities, effectively sidelining the Governor from the process.

The stay was issued by a Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan in response to a petition filed by a BJP functionary. The court dismissed the state government’s plea to defer the matter, citing lack of time to respond.

This development follows the Supreme Court’s April 8 ruling, which held that ten Bills, including one removing the Governor as university Chancellor, were deemed to have received assent after being re-enacted. The TN government had subsequently gazetted the laws.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had celebrated the SC verdict as a triumph of federalism. However, the HC’s interim stay puts the implementation of the VC appointment law on hold for now.