BENGALURU: The allegations against Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) Vice-Chancellor Dr H Maheshappa have now reached Governor Vajubhai Vala. A team of Council and Assembly members submitted a representation to the governor on Friday.
The 17-page representation includes documents related to allegations against Maheshappa that he had violated the VTU Act.
The members requested the governor to conduct a detailed inquiry against Maheshappa based on the Krishna Rau Committee report on illegal appointments at VTU. The report is with the state government.
Puttanna, MLC and deputy chairman of the Council, told Express, “We are not asking the governor and chancellor to initiate action immediately, but our request is for a fresh inquiry and action based on that report.”
The representation, a copy of which is with Express, says, “The appointment of Maheshappa as vice-chancellor of VTU in 2010, 2013 and 2014 is a violation of Section 13 (2), 13 (3) and 13 (4) of the VTU Act 1994.”
MLC Marithibbe Gowda said, “We have explained to the Chancellor what all happened in VTU in the last five years and showed documents related to each allegation that we have raised to the Governor. We hope an inquiry commission will be set up soon.”
Maheshappa was appointed vice-chancellor in June 2010, and a few days after his appointment, he was accused of misleading the chancellor’s office and also the search committee.
In their representation today, the members stated: “Maheshappa misled the chancellor and also the search committee by making nearly 10 false claims in his resume including claiming 1st Class in his BE, while he had got 2nd class, as per an RTI reply from the University of Mysore. He claimed to have guided four PhD scholars but a VTU document obtained through RTI stated he had guided none.”
The representation also has details about a writ petition filed at the High Court and the details of an inquiry conducted by Justice Abhay Goyal.
“It is surprising that the Justice Abhay Goyal committee criticises the University of Mysore instead of pointing out the mistake of the person who has claimed false information,” said Marithibbe Gowda
“That report will not provide justice to anybody and we want a fresh inquiry in the issue,” he added.
Another issue raised in the representation relates to the alleged irregularities in civil works and other tender awards violating the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act 2000.
“Since the day he joined as the vice-chancellor, we have observed that the KTPP Act was violated for tenders issued for several civic works,” said Puttanna.
“We have requested the chancellor to initiate an inquiry and withdraw the order issued on June 21, 2014 appointing Maheshappa as VC of VTU for the next two years,” said Puttanna.
The other members of the delegation who met the governor were JD(S) MLA Y S V Datta and MLC Chowda Reddy.