Former Chief Secretary S V Ranganath is likely to head the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC). Sources close to Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande have confirmed this.
The Higher Education Department has reportedly approached Ranganath, who retired from service recently, to head the council.
“The issue was discussed with Ranganath. But he is yet to respond,” a senior official of the department said. Deshpande was not available for comment.
The post of the Vice-Chairman in the council is vacant for six months. Former Tumkur University VC S C Sharma was heading the council and his term ended in April 2012.
C T Ravi, who was then Higher Education Minister, extended Sharma’s term till 2015. However, the present Minister Deshpande removed him from the post following a controversy over this extension.
As per the decision taken by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the instruction given to all the states, the Government of Karnataka constituted the Karnataka State Higher Education Council by abolishing the Inter University Board (IUB) in 2010. The council is now the highest body for higher education in the State.
As per the Higher Education Council Act, Higher Education Minister is the Chairman of the council and an eminent academician must be appointed as the Vice-Chairman.
VCs of all the universities in the State are the members of the council.
The Governing Committee of the council will meet once in three months where the agendas related to higher education are discussed.