Bengaluru: Karnataka has demanded the Centre to grant autonomous status for the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK), Mysuru. Minister for Kannada and Culture C.T. Ravi on Tuesday met Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and submitted a memorandum in this regard.

The CESCK was inaugurated in 2011 at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in Mysuru. The State Government has already sanctioned land for construction of a building and temporary office in University of Mysore (UoM), said Ravi.

In his representation, Ravi recalled that the Centre had acceded to the Tamil Nadu Government’s request immediately and transferred the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) to Chennai with autonomous status. “This has opened up avenues and opportunities to Tamil research in a big way,” he said. “After it was separated from CIIL, the CICT as an autonomous organisation has done a lot of meaningful work.”

Looking at the CICT growth, the Karnataka Government has appealed to the Centre to grant autonomous status and release funds for various activities of the CESCK so that it can take up research works and other activities, he added.

It may be recalled here that recently, the State Government decided to grant a 10-acre land for CESCK at the foot of Chamundi Hill. The land belongs to UoM. The decision to this effect was taken on Aug. 7 at a meeting chaired by Ravi. 

Following the meeting, Ravi said the Government has directed the UoM Registrar Prof. K. Shivappa to hand over 10 acres of land belonging to the UoM at the foothill to CIIL for establishing the Classical Kannada Studies Centre at the earliest.

The Varsity has 23 acres of land at the foot of Chamundi Hill. Earlier, it was decided to allot three acres of land belonging to the UoM in the Old Tahsildar Office premises opposite Premier Studio on Hunsur Road. 

But later the Higher Education Department wrote to the UoM cancelling the allotment. Subsequently, the Higher Education Department was appealed to sanction land belonging to UoM on the outskirts of city, following which the Higher Education Minister agreed to allot 10 acres of land at the foothill.