BANGALORE: Bangalore University (BU) Vice-Chancellor Dr N Prabhudev on Monday broke his silence over the controversy of preventing the newly-appointed registrars from taking charge for four days. Prabhudev dissociated himself from the row, saying there were no differences between him and the registrars.
At a joint press conference along with the newly-appointed Registrar Prof M G Krishnan and Registrar (evaluation) Prof M S Talwar, Prabhudev accepted that he had asked them to wait for a couple of days before taking charge but had ‘never rejected their appointment.’ The V-C said that the principal secretary (higher education) had asked him to send a panel of three names to be selected for the registrars’ post. “I had sent names—Prof Ranganath, Prof Siddalingiah and Prof Jayaram.” Prabhudev said he had the right to know why none of the persons suggested by him were considered for the post. “I had suggested people helping me to run the day-today affairs. And I did not know enough about Prof Krishnan or Prof Talwar. Had I known them better, I would have included their names.”
NO DIFFERENCE WITH MINISTER
Even as Higher Education Minster Arvind Limbavali has decided to order a Lokayukta probe against him, Dr Prabhudev said there is no difference between him and the minister.
“All of us, Registrars and senior deans, will meet the minister,’’ he said.
The V-C added that the inquiry is about the denial of scholarship to SC/ST candidates, which happened in 2007-08. “I was not even V-C then,” he said.
SUSPICIOUS OVER STAY ORDER
Even as the V-C maintained silence over an emergency order issued by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s secretary M Lakshminarayan, seeking to stay the orders of the new registrars and send the files to the CM for his consideration, Prof Krishnan said that he would seek a probe as to who sent the order to the university. According to sources, the order was an internal communication between the CMO and the principal secretary (higher education). It had been faxed later in the night (around 11.30 pm) from the Central College campus of the university to the Jnanabharati campus.
But, the then in-charge Registrar Prof Puttaraju who had earlier attempted to convince students that there was an order staying the new postings, on Monday refused to acknowledge that he ever received any such orders.
NOT CASTEIST
The VC claimed that he had never practiced casteism in his life. He instead blamed the media for projecting him as a “villain.’’ Out of the 21 appointments he has done so far, only three are Lingayats.
However, a list of appointments available with the Express suggest that several people, including the legal advisor and the personal secretary, were from the same caste.