Karnataka: Act will empower universities root out corruption, says Rayareddi

Belagavi: Reiterating the government's commitment to the Karnataka Universities Comprehensive Act, Higher Education Minister, Basavaraj Rayareddi said here on Monday that it would be passed soon to empower universities and ensure transparency in their administration.

Speaking at the 5th annual convocation of the Rani Channamma University here, he maintained the Act was intended to root out irregularities in the running of universities and not to help the government interfere in their affairs. "They will in fact be given more authority even in matters such as appointment of Vice Chancellors and recruitment of group-IV employees," he said.

Coming to the Rani Channamma University, he said the forest department would soon hand over 178 acres adjoining it to the university authorities in Bhutaramanahatti.

He also revealed that the university's request for Rs 150 crore for its overall development had been approved, and Rs 80 crore would be given as the first instalment. As for the Income Tax department seizing Rs 441 crore from the Visvesvarayya Technological University for not providing it proper information when filing its I-T returns, Mr Rayareddi said he had asked university Vice Chancellor, Karibasappa to file a suit against the department in the Supreme Court.

"VTU has landed in trouble only due to the negligence of university officers. A delegation comprising Minister R V Deshpande, and BJP leaders, Ananth Kumar and Sadananda Gowda did meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss the matter, but it did not help," he regretted. Pooja Jain from BLDE's Commerce College, Jamkhandi, who scored the highest in B.Com, was presented with five gold medals at the convocation.