Congress leader H.A. Venkatesh has feared that the appointment of Vice-Chancellors to State universities will become a “political” exercise under the proposed amendment to the Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act 2000.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Venkatesh said the proposed amendment envisages the constitution of a Select Committee under the Chief Minister for direct selection of the Vice-Chancellor.
This not only threatens the autonomy of the universities and higher education in the State, but also vitiates the academic atmosphere with political loyalty gaining an upper hand over academic merit, qualification and experience, said Mr. Venkatesh, who had served as a member of the University of Mysore’s Syndicate and Senate.
He said the selection of a Vice-Chancellor by a select committee headed by the Chief Minister would replace the existing system under which a Search Committee comprising representatives nominated by the Syndicate of the respective university, Governor’s office, State government and University Grants Commission (UGC) sends a panel of three names to the Governor to choose from and finalise the appointment.
Mr. Venkatesh cited the appointment of Director of Rangayana in Mysuru as an example. Hitherto, the State government would appoint only theatre personalities approved by Ranga Samaja as the director of Rangayana.
But, the BJP government threw all these conventions to the wind while making its recent appointment to Rangayana, he said.
The proposed system will also give room to sudden change of Vice-Chancellors whenever a new government takes over. The incumbent Vice-Chancellor will be replaced with the one who enjoys the patronage of the government, he said.
The government should have discussed the proposed amendments with academic experts, teachers, researchers and students, he added.
He called upon the people of the State, particularly the academic fraternity comprising retired Vice-Chancellors and retired teachers, to oppose the proposed amendment. which will not only vitiate the academic atmosphere, but also threatens the concept of social justice in the Universities.
