Karnataka: Governor, state govt lock horns over VTU honorary doctorates
Bengaluru: Who selected two eminent personalities for the annual honorary doctorates conferred by the prestigious Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) this year? As per the VTU act, the VTU executive council is expected to forward the names of the short-listed distinguished personalities to the governor through its Vice Chancellor (VC).
But this year the governor's office and state government are at loggerheads over the two short-listed personalities. Reason: these two persons were chosen by a committee selected through the state by the higher education council. The buzz is that the governor has raised the issue with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). According to sources at the state higher education department, the fourteenth annual convocation of VTU is scheduled for May 9.
Two eminent personalities, including scientist V K Aatre and educationist P Shyama Raju were selected for the honorary doctorates. According to tradition, the university VC himself used to forward the short- listed names to the governor's office. But this time the state government allegedly broke that tradition. According to sources, the university had recommended the names of 15 personalities for the honorary doctorate.
To whittle down the names from these 15 people, the state government generally forms a committee headed by former VC of Kuvempu University, Prof. Chidananda Gowda. The Committee short-lists three names and the governor approves the names of two and rejects one.
But the state government's decision to form a committee to shortlist names didn't go down well with the governor. "It was a new practice. Till now the university was only short-listing the names. But for the first time a committee was formed. Governor Mr. Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala has raised the issue with various agencies including MHRD," confirmed sources close to the governor's office. "The Governor is very particular about safeguarding the autonomous status of the universities,” he explained.
