Is there is new rivalry brewing in Bangalore University? The first council meeting under the new regime was as stormy as the previous ones. An example of a possible miscommunication between acting Vice-Chancellor (VC) N. Rangaswamy and Registrar (Evaluation) R.K. Somashekhar came out in the open during the Academic Council meeting here Friday, almost as a sequel to the N. Prabhu Dev – B.C. Mylarappa one.
When council member M. Narayanaswamy raised objections right at the start to Prof. Somashekhar signing the meeting notice instead of Registrar (Administration), the latter said he had done so on the oral instruction of the VC, which was given after a phone call from the Principal Secretary’s office.
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Disagreeing immediately, the VC clarified that he had authorised Prof. Somashekhar as the Member Secretary only for the recent Syndicate meeting as former Registrar (Administration) B.C. Mylarappa had just tendered his resignation.
“A day after the High Court quashed his appointment, Prof. Mylarappa tendered his resignation on November 22. The in-charge Registrar Kemparaju T.D. took charge on November 23 afternoon. The council meeting agenda was finalised that morning. So it was a temporary arrangement,” Prof. Rangaswamy said.
The council members, objecting to this, said there was collapse in administration. Prof. Rangaswamy was forced to take responsibility for the lapse, which he did “as it has been done in good faith”.
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Later, when the report of the university’s B.Ed. Task Force came up for discussion, the force’s validity was debated again. Council member R. Karunamoorthy, who sought to know the terms of reference of the Task Force’s inspection, said: “Everything is being done orally… according to the whims and fancies of the captains of the university.”
Dissent note
There was drama earlier on too, when the acting VC, as the meeting began, started mentioning the names of those who were part of the council, including that of the former VC Prabhu Dev and Prof. Mylarappa. A few members were quick to stop Prof. Rangaswamy, saying they would give dissent notes as “names of those who brought the university shame were being brought up”.