Govt slaps notice on BU V-C

The higher education department has served a show-cause notice to Bangalore University vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev for conducting university syndicate’s meetings by circulation, in violation of the rules.

Prabhu Dev had been conducting syndicate meetings through circulation, which, the government held, was a misuse of the provisions of Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act, 2000. The under secretary of the higher education department, Prakashrao Kesarkar, issued the notice to the V-C on Friday. The V-C has been asked why the decisions taken in the meetings held through circulation should not be cancelled. If the government does not get a reply within a week, all the decisions will stand cancelled.

The notice states that conducing a syndicate meeting through circulation violates Section 28(2) of the KSU Act. Nevertheless, Prabhu Dev conducted meetings through circulation and did not respond to the three letters the government had sent to him in this regard. That is why the government decided to serve him show-cause notice. DNA had published a story in this regard in its August 23 edition.

According to the notice, syndicate meetings 107 and 108 were not held according to the rule. Now, the decisions taken in the meetings that were held through circulation have to be placed in the next syndicate meeting for approval. Some of the important decisions that were taken in the controversial meetings are the appointments of Kananda department’s chairperson, director for student welfare, director for SC/ST cell and approval of Local Inquiry Committee reports.