BENGALURU: IN an attempt to curb rampant corruption and irregularities in universities in Karnataka, the Legislative Council passed amendments to the Karnataka State Universities Bill, on Wednesday.
The amendments include the constitution of a Public Finance System for all universities, which will mandate varsities to record every transaction made by them with the State and submit a monthly report on the same.
Moreover, unregulated purchase of articles and cars, and sanctioning works without the required approval will also be stopped, as Purchase Committee will be formed to monitor the same.
As per the amendment, a search committee has to be constituted three months before the incumbent vice-chancellor is set to retire.
Qualification for VC’s have also been specified in the new Bill.
Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy said, “Apart from conflict in regulations between these Acts, it also created confusion. Therefore, the State has enacted uniform law for all State-run universities, save Kannada University inHampi,he said.
Home Minister comes under fire, does volte-face in Narayanaswamy case
Bengaluru Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy and his adviser Kempaiah came under fire from BJP members in the Legislative Assembly for the series of “rowdy acts’ of Congressmen in the city, recently. Reddy, who initially said he would suspend BBMP Assistant Revenue Officer Chengalrayappa, for not filing a case against a Congress leader’s vandalism attempt, was compelled to do a volte-face on his decision. He also assured the arrest of Congress block level leader Narayanaswamy. Reddy expressed displeasure at the fact that the BBMP ARO did not file a case even one week after the incident. Reddy said that the official had been suspended for the lapse.
His statement drew strong protest from BJP members Suresh Kumar and Y A Narayanaswamy. The minister immediately agreed to withdraw the suspension and assured that Narayanaswamy would be arrested by the end of Wednesday evening. Opposition Party Leader Jagadish Shettar pointed out that the Narayanaswamy incident happened on February 16. “How can he (Narayanaswamy) force someone to make khata for a property which does not have documents. If the case is genuine, he could have gone to court or commissioner. “We are making attempts to arrest Narayanaswamy. I will also assure that the ARO’s suspension order is withdrawn,’’ Reddy said.
Transport minister blames Metro, white-topping works for BMTC’s loss
Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has incurred a loss of around Rs 104 crore in operating its 600-strong air-conditioned fleet in the last two years. The reason for this — according to Transport Minister H M Revanna — is Namma Metro, white-topping of city roads and other civic projects. Giving a written response to a question in the Assembly on Wednesday, Revanna blamed several factors for the loss, including operation of Metro’s purple and green lines.
The BMTC incurred a loss of Rs 57 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 46.70 crore in 2017-18 (till December) in operation of its air-conditioned fleet. Revanna said the average speed of the buses had dropped resulting in fewer trips. “Several roads have been taken over for constructing Namma Metro, for white-topping and other road works. This has affected the speed of the buses resulting in a loss,” he said. A majority of BMTC’s Volvo services operate between Kempegowda Bus Station and IT corridors like ITPL, Whitefield and Electronics City.
Extravagant expenditure
Reddy said that a Purchase Committee will be formed, which will monitor all the purchases made by a varsity. “The grants given to varsities are not used for academic development, but to rather build buildings that are not required. Moreover, they also pay in excess and no audit has been done,” he said.
Recruitment
Reddy said that candidate selection will be random and there will be a compulsory written test. One third of these candidates will be selected for the interview, which will have to be videographed, he said. There were also demands to fill the vacancies in varsities of the State.
What’s new in the Bill
Public Finance System for all varsities, in which they have to submit monthly expenditure details
Purchase Committee to regulate extravagant spending and purchases.
Vice-chancellor candidates should have minimum 25 years teaching experience, with 10 years experience as professor.
VC appointments to be time-bound.
Syndicate of the varsity to be renamed as Executive Council, Registrar (Evaluation) as Controller of Examinations.
Executive Council members must have minimum qualification of post graduation
Training proposed for Registrars, to provide administrative knowledge
In the assembly
Cabinet to take up issue of reservation in private sector soon
Law Minister T B Jayachandra has said that the issue of reservation for Kannadigas in private sector jobs will be taken up in the State cabinet soon. However, since reservation based on linguistic status could go against the Constitution, the State is considering changing the nomenclature from ‘reservation’ to some other term to ensure priority for Kannadigas. He was responding to a question by MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik in the Council, who sought details on the announcement.
Aadhar enrolment for disabled to be done at doorstep
Physically challenged and senior citizens who find it difficult to reach Aadhar enrolment centre will soon get their enrolment done at the doorstep itself. “State government is providing Aadhar kits to the authorities concerned who will visit the doorsteps to get needy beneficiaries enrolled,” said rural and panchayath raj minister H K Patil. The kit will have biometric equipment through which the authorities can record their details.
State to get two more private universities soon
The state assembly passed two more private university bills - Shri Dhramasthala Manjunatheshwara University Bill and Khaja Bandanawaz University Bill. Now, the state will have 22 private universities. Higher education minister Basavaraja Rayareddi who tabled the Bill said that the higher education enrolment ratio at present in the state is 28 per cent as against 24 per cent national average. “We want to take it to 40 per cent in the next ten years,’’ he added.