BENGALURU: Another controversy erupted at Bangalore University as protesting students, teachers and Syndicate members shut down the Finance Block of the university on Friday, accusing Vice-Chancellor K R Venugopal of pressurising the university’s finance officer to disburse Rs 49 crore for works unrelated to the university.
Syndicate members alleged that no approval has been given for the move. TNIE had reported last week on the members protest against the VC’s proposal. They had alleged that the funds were to be used on development works for the University’s Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE).
According to protesters, at around 9.30 pm on Thursday, two people had entered the Finance Block and were allegedly seen preparing cheques and bills to release the amount. Responding to this, the university’s teacher and student associations as well as Syndicate members stormed the Finance Officer’s office on Friday and demanded an explanation, and locked the Finance Block. They submitted a memorandum to the Finance Officer as well as to the VC’s office.
They urged that funds granted to the university from the state and other institutions should not be used for development works. Syndicate members also pointed out that Venugopal is ineligible to make such financial decisions as his term as VC ends on June 11. It may be noted that this is not the first time that the university has come under fire for financial irregularities. Previous finance officer, Parvathi HB, had been relieved by Venugopal without prior approval after she conducted an independent audit and revealed multiple financial irregularities in 2020.