In its final report on BEd colleges, the Bangalore University’s (BU) Task Force on Teacher Education has recommended the State government to initiate “punitive” action against the Vice-chancellor for his alleged failure to comply with the Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act, 2000.
The 22-page summary report, which comes as a postscript to its earlier interim report which recommended disaffiliation of 43 colleges for irregularities, has come down heavily on the VC - a post held by N Prabhu Dev, N Rangaswamy (Acting) earlier and now B Thimme Gowda during the working period of the Task Force, whose term ends June 30.
“Accepting the interim reports in toto on one hand and taking contradictory administrative decisions on the other, in violation of Section 60 of the KSU Act, government’s decision to investigate some of these colleges by the CID and even the ruling of the Supreme Court Judgment cited above, all these squarely place the entire responsibility on the VC,” Task Force Chairman H Karan Kumar has written in his foreword.
“I implore the VC to tread cautiously in this regard since as per Section 15(1), the VC cannot evade responsibility for actions inimical to the interests of the university, under the guise of unanimous decisions of the Academic Council and Syndicate,” he has stated.
The Task Force has also urged setting up of a Court Commission headed by a retired Chief Justice or a Supreme Court Judge to “sternly deal with the irregularities in teacher education not only under BU but all other universities in the state.” A state-level Monitoring and Supervisory Board has been recommended.
It has been recommended to “immediately close all irregular, malfunctioning and defunct colleges under BU” and an investigation agency to be constituted to “prosecute blacklisted colleges for corrupt practices and amassing ill-wealth by admitting ineligible candidates since 2005.” Another high-powered committee has been recommended for popularising the BEd programme.
Non-Functional for Years
Bangalore University has been renewing the affiliation of two colleges - BRV BEd College and Dayananda Sagar College of Education - that have been non-functional for years, according to BU Task Force report. The local inquiry committees have failed to do their jobs, the report says. They have been recommended for closure.