People involved in Trusts cannot be VCs, says MP

Pratap Simha expresses dissatisfaction over finances of University of Mysore

Mysore/Mysuru: There is an urgent need to safeguard the resources and assets of the University of Mysore and increase its stature. For this, the Government must appoint a Vice-Chancellor, who is beyond self-interests, said Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha.

“People who are Trustees of various other organisations and social setups must not be appointed as VCs as they will fail to safeguard the interests of the University as they are bound to do favours to the Trusts they owe allegiance to,” he opined.

The MP was speaking at an event organised at the Vijnana Bhavan in Manasagangothri where laptops were distributed to deserving students and research scholars. The laptops were sponsored by ITC under its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative and the event was organised by OBC Research Students Forum.

Those professors and educationists working in established State Universities for decades must be given the first preference while appointing the VCs as they will have a close affinity to students, staff and administrative officers and safeguarding the interests of the University will be their first priority, he noted.

“Those VCs who are appointed from other Trusts will only safeguard the interests of that particular Trust sitting on the chair of the VC. For them, the interests of the students and the Varsity comes secondary,” he added.

On the University of Mysore, Pratap Simha said that there are over 1,400 Group C and Group D employees. “Of them, 50 percent of the posts are unnecessary. I had brought up the issue with the former VC Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar and had told him that the Varsity must avoid unnecessary appointments. If these appointments were not made then there would have been no objection from the Government to the appointment of guest lecturers. The Government had to intervene in the appointment of guest lecturers as the financial condition of the University was bad,” Simha said.

“If the unnecessary appointments of Group C and Group D employees were stalled, the University could have saved Rs. 50 lakh per month that could have been used for the appointment of guest lecturers or to increase the fellowship of research scholars. The University finances must be streamlined to prevent pilferage,” the MP said.

“Under CSR, ITC authorities agreed to provide 55 laptops to these research scholars. I thank ITC Company and its manager Poornesh for their gesture,” he added.

Former VC Prof. K.S. Rangappa, former In-Charge VC of University of Mysore Prof. H. Rajashekar, Syndicate member Chaitra Narayan, ITC General Manager Srinivas Reddy and Manager Poornesh  were present.