The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bureaucrats on panels to select VCs decried

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Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bureaucrats on panels to select VCs decried

Chitra V. Ramani

Three varsities are without Vice-Chancellors

‘Education must be free from bureaucratic influence’
‘Autonomy of the universities should be retained’

Bangalore: The post of Vice-Chancellor is vacant in three universities in the State — Karnataka State Women’s University, Hampi University, and University of Mysore. The Government has constituted search committees to appoint Vice-Chancellors to these universities.

In a letter to Governor and Chancellor Rameshwar Thakur, B.K. Chandrashekar, Chairman of the Legislative Council, has said: “It is unedifying and ill-advised to appoint bureaucrats to chair the search committees. The neglect of highly acclaimed academicians, including former Vice-Chancellors and renowned writers is objectionable. These appointments will be rightly perceived as detracting from academic autonomy of universities and the standing of Vice-Chancellors-to-be,” he has said in the letter. Prof. Chandrashekar has said that it would be a symbol of respect for academia if the officers appointed to chair the selection committees offer to step down. Speaking to The Hindu, K. Marulasiddappa, writer and former chairman of the Karnataka Nataka Academy, said the notion that IAS officers/ bureaucrats are all-knowing is the “fossil of the British Raj, when bureaucrats were treated like ‘rajahs.’ I do not have any personal objection towards any particular bureaucrat. But it is absurd that when there are several academicians and scholars in the State, the Government appoints a bureaucrat to chair the committee to select Vice-Chancellors,” he added.

G.K. Govinda Rao, artiste and retired English professor, said that appointing bureaucrats to such high-profile task of appoints heads of universities is “unnatural, unprecedented and unethical.” “This has to be condemned strongly. As has been the earlier practice, scholars and educationists should be appointed to chair these committees. It is unfortunate that such a thing has happened under the Governor’s rule.” He said that the public too should not sit quiet with indifference.

“The Vice-Chancellors should be appointed by people who have been in the field of education. How can a bureaucrat decide who will be the right candidate to such an important post. Education should be free from routine bureaucratic matters,” said L. Hanumanthaiah, litterateur and MLC.

He said that the autonomy of the universities should be retained. A former Vice-Chancellor said that appointing bureaucrats on the committees was like asking a graduate to evaluate a Ph.D. thesis. M.S. Thimmappa, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, said that according to the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000, only those with academic experience should be appointed on the selection committees.

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