Karnataka Governor fires salvo against Karnataka University Vice-Chancellor

Hubli: Within a fortnight of taking over as Governor, Vajubhai Vala has fired the first salvo by appointing a one-man commission headed by retired High Court judge, Justice B Padmaraj to probe alleged misappropriation of Rs 266 crore by Karnatak University vice-chancellor, Prof. H. B. Walikar.

Prof. Walikar was appointed VC by former Governor H. R. Bharadwaj overlooking the recommendations of the previous BJP government. Once Mr Vala took over, BJP leaders upped their ante against the VC and took a delegation to him to demand a thorough probe.

Prof. Walikar, whose term is due to end on October 24, continued as VC with the backing of Mr Bharadwaj despite the university running into a number of controversies under him.

He has been accused of issuing a contract for construction of buildings on campus without calling for tenders, and blatantly violating UGC norms when filling posts of professors and assistant professors among various other scams.

His appointment spree has continued during the last three months despite orders from the Governor not to go ahead with recruitments or any policy decisions.

“Prof Walikar is not only involved many irregularities, but he also fell out with all registrars. The Lokayukta has sought documents from the university pertaining to the many scams rocking the university. But the vice-chancellor has constituted a syndicate committee to screen the documents to be submitted to the Lokayukta. So we have knocked on the doors of Raj Bhavan to order a thorough inquiry into the financial irregularities,” said member of the Save University Action Committee, Veeresh Anchatageri.