Bangalore University might be going through a bumpy ride with its finances, but its officials will soon have a smooth ride, quite literally, as they are getting swanky new cars.
The Vice-Chancellor and Registrar will each get cars worth ₹17 lakh with the Syndicate meeting last week approving their requests for new vehicles, that too after much debate over the expenses. This comes at a time when the university, which is partly dependent on government funds, has been asked to share its revenue with the newly created Bengaluru Central and Bengaluru North universities.
The approval by the Syndicate has raised many eyebrows in the university’s academic circle as well as among the Syndicate members. “This is an unnecessary expenditure, especially when the university has placed a deficit budget. Last time, when the university decided to buy a car despite opposition from the government, it received objection during the audit,” a member said.
Sources pointed out that in 2014, when the university sent a similar proposal, the government objected to it and asked the university to hire five non-AC cars on rent. However, the university went ahead and bought one car, which was objected during the audit, sources said.
Justifying the move, officials in the university said that they decided to buy two new cars — for the Registrar and Vice Chancellor — as the ones that they are currently using required frequent repairs. The officials also pointed out that the university would pass on the old cars to the two new universities.
Incidentally, the government-appointed committee to overlook trifurcation of Bangalore University has asked the latter to part with ₹10 crore each to Bengaluru Central and Bengaluru North universities. Bangalore University has presented a ₹450 crore budget for 2017-18 with a deficit of ₹5.88 crore.
Gururaj Desai, State secretary of the Students Federation of India, said it was wrong on part of the officials to put their interests before that of students. “While we acknowledge that officials need a car, buying expensive ones is not the need of the hour. The same funds could be used to improve infrastructure for students,” he said.
In-charge Vice-Chancellor H.N. Ramesh said they would check the rules and wait for government approval before buying the cars.
