BENGALURU: The wait for a Vice-Chancellor for Bangalore University just got longer with the Governor and Chancellor Vajubhai Vala reportedly sending back a file relating to appointment of a new V-C.
A source from Raj Bhavan told Express that a file relating to the appointment of a new V-C to Bangalore University was forwarded by the state government giving consent to one of the names from a panel of three submitted by a search committee.
According to sources, the file was sent back to the government on Friday. Confirming this, officials from the Chief Minister’s office said, “Yes, the Governor sent back the file regarding appointment of a new V-C to Bangalore university. Though there is no clear reason mentioned, he asked for another panel of names to select a V-C.”
Though the search committee submitted the panel of three names to the government a few weeks ago, the High Court issued a stay for the appointment based on a writ petition up to June 7. However, as the petitioner himself withdrew the petition on June 2, the court quashed the case.
Following this, the government forwarded the file to the Governor recommending Prof Sangamesh Patil from Karnataka University, Dharwad for the post. As per the information, the other two names recommended were Prof Nagabhushan from University of Mysore and Prof KR Venugopal, principal of University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bengaluru.
According to a source from the Raj Bhavan, the Governor rejected the file because one of the professors recommended has already been appointed as director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Lucknow.
“As Prof Nagabhushan has been appointed as director of IIT Lucknow, there are only two names left in the panel. The Governor wanted three names in the panel to make a final appointment,” said the source.
The post of V-C at Bangalore University has been vacant for five months after Prof Thimme Gowda completed his tenure in February. It is inevitable for the government to convene a meeting of the search committee to select one more name to add to the existing panel or to send a fresh panel.