The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has urged the Governor not to give his assent to the private universities Bill passed by the BJP government in a hurry and without much debate, clearing the establishment of 22 private varsities.
The Governor should not accord his assent in view of the widespread allegations of crores of rupees changing hands for clearing the universities, they said.
As part of the Statewide protest against the Bill, the activists took out a procession and staged a demonstration at Rani Chennamma Circle and outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday.
They condemned the government for “spreading a red carpet to the merchants of education” without taking into consideration the future of students belonging to poor sections of society.
The protest was led by ABVP Belgaum unit joint secretary Mahanand Patil, State executive committee member Kushal Mulimani and other youth leaders.
Instead of taking action against irregularities and exploitation of students and teachers, the government was encouraging commercialisation of education, they alleged.
The activists also drew attention to the alleged corruption in appointment of vice-chancellors to various universities in the State.
“We demand a thorough inquiry against the Governor, who is also the Chancellor fo various government universities,” they said. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad also demanded that inquiry reports against the former Vice-Chancellor of the Women’s University Syeda Akhtar, Vice-Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University H. Maheshappa, the former Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences A.S. Prabhakaran, and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore Shashidhar Prasad, who were allegedly involved in various illegalities, be made public.
