Governor H.R. Bhardwaj said on Saturday that his health had deteriorated over the past four-and-a-half-years due to the struggle to do good for Karnataka.
He was speaking at a function to confer honourary life fellowship of the Institution of Engineers on H.C. Visvesvaraya, former Vice-Chancellor of Roorkee University, here.
Mr. Bhardwaj said, “I wonder how the State could prosper in such a situation.” The Governor said he was a well-wisher of the State.
Though he would differ with the views of the government, he would have to read out the speech prepared by the government during the joint session of the legislature, Mr. Bhardwaj said.
Indirectly referring to the controversy over the appointment of Vice- Chancellor for Davangere University, Mr. Bhardwaj said he had the statutory right under the UGC Act to appoint one of the three persons chosen by the search committee. “If it is the case of administering the oath of office to a Minister, I would not have had any choice, but to go with the recommendations of the Chief Minister,” he said. If there were differences of opinion among members of the committee, the Chancellor could not go out and ask whom they want [to be appointed], the Governor said.
He regretted the attempts being made across the country by governments to take control over universities irrespective of clear provisions against this move under the UGC Act.
