BENGALURU: A sly move by the state government to provide additional land to a government body within the premises of Central College has the Bangalore Central University up in arms. Officials have now asked the government to clear out the space provided to several organisations within the premises of the university as it is hampering their expansion plans.
In 2015, the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), an executive body constituted by the government, had requested the parent Bangalore University to allot land to it in Central College for building an administration office. According to records with Bangalore University, a site measuring 100 by 100 sqft had been given to them at the Prasanna Kumar Block which houses the communication department. While the parent university has these dimensions on record, the newly created Bangalore Central University has the site size as 144 by 156 sqft. But the KSHEC has a revised order from the government which provides 183.2 by 156.6 sqft land. The reason for the increase being a denial of clearance by the Fire Department as fire rescue vehicles could not enter the premises.
However, university officials said that this communication was not shared with them. They alleged that the extra land is now being used as a parking lot. “Not communicating the change to both universities is a violation of the Karnataka State Universities Act. While there is no space to develop the university, government bodies themselves are acquiring land,” an official said.
Now, university authorities are requesting the government to clear out space which had been provided to several organisations like the Central Sahitya Academy, University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education. In the case of KSHEC, the authorities have written to the Higher Education Minister and asked him to direct the higher education council to stop encroaching on university land.
The letter reads: “The Karnataka State Higher Education Council may be informed not to encroach any land for their activities in the Prasanna Kumar block other than the land spared by the Bangalore University. Kindly request them that under no circumstances they should have any activities through Prasanna Kumar Block and they should not further encroach any land.”
Executive Director of KSHEC Prof S A Kori, however, said, “We have not used even an extra inch of land.”
An official of the university said, “We have written to the Higher Education Minister because he is the chairman of the council.”
These organisations were provided land by the govt
Karnataka Association for Advancement of Sciences
Central Sahitya Academy
University Grants Commission
All India Council for Technical Education
Karnataka State Council for Higher Education
Bangalore University college teachers’ association
Forum of former vice-chancellors
Indian council for historical research
Kannada university Prasaranga unit