High Court issues notice on shifting of campus

BENGALURU: As many as 53 affiliated colleges have approached the High Court against shifting the campus of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) from the city to Ramanagar. The petitioners claimed that the varsity is being shifted keeping eye on vote bank of the Ramanagar district, without considering the interest of students.

Hearing the petition, Justice A S Bopanna on Wednesday issued notice to the respondents. They are Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education Department, Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, the Registrar and the Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, the Deputy Commissioner, Ramanagara district, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board and others.
Dr S Umashankar, Principal, Padmashree Institute of Public Health, Banashankari stage III, and other 52 affiliated colleges have challenged the order dated February 8, 2017 directing the RGUHS to shift immediately to Ramanagara from the city.

The petitioners contended that for nearly 10 years the respondents-- departments have been unable to acquire lands for the varsity. Now, in view of keeping the vote bank of the Ramanagara area appeased they have decided to shift with immediate effect the entire University.

“The cabinet on March 24, 2016 unilaterally raised the estimate of the project from `310 crore to `520 crore and directed the varsity to bear the complete cost of the project. The aim is to wrongfully gain funds from the RGUHS funds which is fee collected from students towards exam fee, application fee, etc all estimated around `800-1,000 crore approximately,” the petitioners said.

They contended that shifting of the campus immediately would hamper the work of the varsity and would jeopardize the future of 1.5 lakh students. The delay in conducting exams and announcement of results due to the shifting would result in students losing out on opportunities to join postgraduate programs or appearing for job interviews.

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