Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday ordered issue of notice to the State on a batch of petitions alleging that the government is ‘forcing’ the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to shift to Ramanagara ‘with the sole intent and objective to gain wrongfully from the funds of the university’.
Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the order on a petition filed by medical, para-medical and nursing institutes questioning the government’s February 8, 2017 order to the RGUHS to shift to Ramanagara immediately.
“The corpus of RGUHS is what seems to be attracting unwanted attention of the respondents. The aim is to gain wrongfully from the RGUHS funds, which is the fee collected from students in the form of exam fee, application fee, etc., all estimated at ₹800-1000 crores approximately,” it has been claimed in the petition, filed by Dr. Umashankar S., principal of Padmashree Institute of Public Health, and others.
It points out that the government does not allocate any funds to the RGUHS despite it being formed by the State. The petitioners contend that the government cannot ‘force’ the university to shift to Ramanagara without any funds being allocated by the government.
“The government gains nothing from a mere shift [of the RGUHS]. The tortuous aim is to force the university into paying for construction of a new building and campus, a project worth approximately ₹520 crores...with absolutely no contribution from the government, whereby the government would unscrupulously choose the builder, allot works contract, gain from a free hospital, all from the funds of the RGUHS,” it has been alleged in the petition.
The petitioners claim that it is not at all feasible to shift the university from Bengaluru.
