Karnataka higher education update

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Probe to be ordered into VTU VC case
BANGALORE: On January 22 Karnataka Governor-Chancellor R Bhardwaj announced that he would order an inquiry into the incorrect information furnished by VTU Vice-Chancellor Maheshappa, to the search committee which shortlisted him for the post.

The Chancellor told reporters in Bangalore that his reservation on the selection made by the
government had been vindicated by the High Court.

“My views of the selection of the VC have been upheld by the High Court. Under the VTU Act, I had no authority to take action. Following the High Court
judgement, now I can take action. Once I get the copy of the court order, I will institute an inquiry,” he said.

He made these suo motu comments while trying to explain to the media why he did not approve the appointment of Justice R Bannurmath to the post of Lokayukta.

Maheshappa is facing allegations of false claims that he has a first class degree in engineering course, while he has secured only a second class.

The High Court, which heard the matter, disposed of the case by ruling that it is up to the Chancellor to decide on the class obtained by Maheshappa.

VTU Bill passed,
VC in trouble
From Our Correspondent
BANGALORE : On December 9 the Karnataka assembly approved the Visvesvaraya Technological University (Amendment) Bill, 2011 which would, in effect, curtail the Governor-Chancellor's hold over VTU affairs and make a provision for punitive action against the vice-chancellor and other university staff.

The present vice-chancellor H Mahe H Maheshappa shappa faces allegations of providing false information while applying for the VC’s post. But there is no provision in the 17-year-old VTU Act to take disciplinary action. With this amendment, the bill will go to the Upper House for approval.

The amendment bill proposes to appoint a special officer or a commission of inquiry to probe into any allegation of irregularities against the employees. The inquiry report is to be submitted to the Vice-Chancellor, who would, in turn, forward it to the government instead of the Chancellor.

The VC shall take action as per the government's directive and if the VC fails to take action, the government can report it to the Chancellor H R Bhardwaj, whose order will be final, the draft bill said. The bill also makes a provision to appoint a person who is, or has been, either a high court or Supreme Court judge to inquire into any allegation against the VC. Such an inquiry report should be submitted to the government, which can appropriately advise the Chancellor for appropriate action.

The Chancellor shall act in accordance with the government advice, the bill says.

The academic credentials of the VC H. Maheshappa have become a bone of contention with an RTI applicant claiming inconsistencies in the resume submitted to the Chancellor for his selection to the coveted post.

According to documents obtained under RTI, Dr. Maheshappa, who took over as Vice-Chancellor of the VTU in July this year, had claimed in his resume that he had passed his BE in 1983 with a first class. However, the documents show that Dr. Maheshappa had passed BE in second class. “But the candidate (Dr. Maheshappa) has so far not applied for his degree certificate,” the university stated in reply to a query under RTI.

Dr. Maheshappa, however, subsequently passed ME in Machine Design from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) with a first class, and went on to complete his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University.

Though a first class in BE is not a prerequisite for the post, it is the “false claim” made in the resume that the RTI applicant is seeking to highlight.

Another incongruity pointed out by sources is that Maheshappa's name does not figure in the list of guides for research students put up on the VTU website, though the Vice-Chancellor had claimed that he had guided four students for their Ph.D.

Refutes charges

Dr. Maheshappa strongly refuted the allegations. “My aggregate of marks in all ten semesters is 60.25 per cent, a first class. For the award of a degree, the university considers only four semesters, in which I got 59.85 per cent,” he said.

On the second allegation, he said his Ph.D. students “have not yet completed their research and are yet to be awarded degrees.” Besides, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) rules state that for a candidate to be eligible for the post of lecturer in an engineering college he/she needs to pass either BE or ME in first class. But a first class is not an eligibility criterion for appointment of Vice-Chancellor, he said.

Dr. Maheshappa said the release of RTI documents to the media was part of a concerted exercise to tarnish his image ahead of the inauguration of VTU Regional Centre's Administrative and Training Building in Mysore where Chancellor H.R. Bhardwaj was expected.

Dr. Maheshappa succeeded H.P. Khincha as Vice-Chancellor of VTU after a search panel comprising the former AICTE Chairman S. Rame Gowda, the former Goa University Vice-Chancellor B.S. Sonde, Director of NAL, Bangalore, A.R. Upadhya and professor of Electrical Science Anurag Kumar recommended his name.

VTU vice-chancellor failed in 7 semesters

BANGALORE : The head of Karnataka’s premier technical education umbrella institution, Visvesvaraya Technical University (VTU), failed in seven of the ten semesters of his undergraduate degree course in mechanical engineering, says a Deccan Herald report datelined January 10.

He finally managed to pass the course, but only after many attempts, adding up to a total of 25 marks sheets. He now heads a university which has 200 engineering colleges functioning under it. And the High Court is looking at his claims that he passed in first class. The stack of marks statements of his shows that he passed only 3 semesters of the 10 without failing in any subject, making repeated attempts to pass some of the papers in the rest of the semesters. He could pass two subjects of the seventh semester only after he passed the 9th and 10th semesters.

While Maheshappa completed semesters nine and ten in 1982, he reappeared for two subjects of the seventh semester – machine design I and estimating, specification and engineering economics – in March 1983. In the ninth semester too he failed in two subjects – metrology and automatic control engineering – in Feb/March, 1982 and he cleared these papers along with the 10th semester.

Student at the Government BDT College of Engineering, Davangere affiliated to University of Mysore, Maheshappa obtained a post-graduate degree and doctorate from Bangalore University, where it was not mandatory to submit a degree certificate while seeking entry to a PG course or doctoral programme.

It is not mandatory for a person to have a first class degree to become a VC, but Maheshappa has been accused of making false claims before the search panel that selected him to head the VTU for three years from 2010. While he has claimed that he has a first class degree in BE, those who have filed a public interest litigation in the High Court have alleged that he has just a second class degree, and contrary to his claim did not guide any PhD student.

The University of Mysore, during 1980s, used award an engineering degree based on the scoring of the last two semesters. Maheshappa’s 10th semester marks card (August/September 1982) mentions that he obtained second class. He failed in two subjects and his total scoring was 393 out of 775.

He passed the subjects later. In the final semester, he secured 830 out of 1400. While the university awarded him second class going by the marks he had scored in the first attempt, he has claimed that after the second attempt he made in the 9th semester, the percentage crossed 60 per cent.

Copies of the marks cards, obtained under the RTI, show that the University seems to have committed an error in the column indicating ‘Total Marks’.

While the ‘Total Marks’ for the 9th semester was 775 in the statement of marks of Feb/March 1982, the same is shown as 770 in the final semester marks sheet, where both marks scored in 9th and 10th are mentioned.

The total scoring of two semesters stands at 830 out of 1400 (59.24 %). But it should be 830 out of 1425 (58.24%).

Maheshappa, in the CV submitted to the search committee, had stated that he had ‘guided’ four PhD students. But a document obtained under the RTI from VTU on January 5, 2012 has stated that no student has been awarded PhD under his guidance but he is only ‘guiding’ four students.

K Balaveera Reddy, two-time vice chancellor of VTU, told Deccan Herald: “Any university will go by the marks obtained by a student in the first attempt. The marks obtained by making subsequent attempts to clear a paper are not taken into consideration while declaring class or rank. In case of VTU, the last four semesters aggregate is taken into consideration for declaring class.” (Courtesy : The Deccan Herald, Bangalore)

B'lore varsity students demand VC's ouster

From Our Correspondent
BANGALORE : The simmering anger against Bangalore University vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev spilt over on the University's Jnanabharathi campus here on December 14 where students staged a protest condemning
what they called the “autocratic and non-academic” attitude of the Vice-Chancellor.

The VC has not visited University's Jnanabharathi campus for 54 days and functions from its minor Central College campus. The non-teaching staff of the university, who had protested a day earlier joined the students.

“This is the 54th day. 95% of the university is functioning from here. Then why is the most important person in the varsity staying away?,” said Shivappa T, spokesperson, Non-Teaching Staff Employees’ Union.

The VC, however, has refuted the allegations and asked the protesters to talk to him directly if they have grievances.

The protesters, mostly postgraduate students, said that the university had fallen into a “state of disorderliness” as the VC and other varsity officials had
stopped taking interest. In a statement, the BU Postgraduate and Research Students’ Forum said that there was “no order” in the university’s main campus at Jnanabharathi.

“The VC’s uncordial relation with the registrars has tarnished the university’s image.

The main campus has pathetic roads, its buildings are dilapidated, there is no proper sanitation in the departments, toilets stink, and classrooms cannot be
compared even to those at government schools in villages,” the Forum said.

There are no canteens or healthcare facility for the 2,000-odd students. The guest house, the library, and the computer and the internet facilities are not
maintained properly.

Existing hostels are “in shambles” and the new one is yet to be built. The university has not paid adequate attention to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) scheme, the gymnasium and the swimming pools have been shut for more than two years, the Forum explained.

No transparency

The recently conducted entrance exam for admission to PhD programme “lacked transparency” and was organised with an intention to “deter” SC/ST students.

The VC disputed the claim and said the exam did not have any human interference. He said that it was his prerogative to work from the place of his choice. He said that some vested interests had created a “vitiated” atmosphere against him.

“Yes, I don’t visit the main campus but that has not affected my work. Not a single file is pending,” Dev said. He said that he visited the campus on December 14 but the protesters gheraoed him outside the Administrative Block and raised slogans against him.

He said he would visit the main campus once the “atmosphere becomes clean”.

K'nataka to end Chancellor's say in state varsities

From Our Correspondent
BANGALORE : Karnataka Higher Education Minister wants to do away with the Chancellor and instead have bosses hand-picked by him and other politicians, according to indications available here.

The game plan is to declare new universities as "innovative" universities and to introduce a new governing structure for them in which the role of the Chancellor (governor) would be substituted by "presidents" who will be selected by a collegium dominated by the higher education minister.

The proposed collegium, according to the Karnataka State Innovative Universities draft Bill, 2011 scheduled to be tabled in the current assembly session would neither have an educationist nor a nominee of the University Grants Commission UGC) or the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) but would be comprised of hardcore politicians and a high court judge.

According to the Bill the collegium will comprise the chief minister of Karnataka, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Minister for Higher Education and the Chief Justice of Karnataka or his nominee not below a sitting judge of the High Court.

The chief minister will preside over the collegium and the Karnataka Higher Education Council will convene the meeting of the collegium.

If and when the Bill becomes the law, in the first phase, University of Mysore and Karnataka University, Dhrawad will be developed into "innovative" universities.

According to the Bill the President of the university will head the university in place of the Chancellor, followed by the vice-chancellor, the registrar and the finance officer. At present, the Chancellor heads the State universities as per the provisions of the Karnataka State Universities Act.

For many years Kannada University, Hampi had the chief minister as the Chancellor. Later it brought Governor as the Chancellor to head the university in order to get funds from the University Grants Commission.

The Knowledge Commission had constituted a sub-committee to suggest the modalities to be adopted to establish the Innovative Universities. Dr S Thimmappa, former vice-chancellor, who was on the committee, said, “the panel had never suggested to have the chief minister or any politicians on the collegium. Dr Madhava Menon and Dr Govardhan Mehta were also on the panel. We suggested the Innovative Universities to be developed more on the lines of National Law School which has high academic freedom”.

The draft bill says that the President of the University should be an eminent person who has attained excellence in education field, industry or judiciary or in such other profession. His term will be for five years and will not be eligible for re-appointment.

Ombudsman and rector

The President will select the vice-chancellor from a panel of three names recommended by the search committee constituted by the Karnataka State Council for Higher Education.

The Bill has made provision for appointing an Ombudsman for the university, a first for the state universities. The Ombudsman will oversee accountability and transparency in the university, receive complaints, grievances and recommend action to the President. His term will be for three years. The Minister for Higher Education will be the chief rector of each university.

There will be two kinds of universities in the state - unitary, having University Schools and Constituent College, and affiliating having a number of colleges with single or multiple campuses.

The universities, in addition to getting funds from the UGC and government, can also get donations or grants from private individuals or institutions, industries, traders or entrepreneurs.