A post-graduate centre of Bangalore University is proposed to come up on a 100-acre plot in Ramanagaram near here.
This was one of the announcements made during the presentation of the university's 2012-13 budget during the Academic Council meeting here on Monday.
The university has set aside Rs. 50 lakh in the budget for the post-graduate centre. “After the centre is established, more funds will be allocated, depending on the requirements,” Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev said.
“The Ramnagaram District Collector has agreed to allocate 100 acres of land for the PG centre. When the land is handed over, the university will begin the construction of the administration building,” he said.
Also announced was the increase in the monthly stipend given to female students, who are the only child in the family, to Rs. 1,000 from Rs. 500.
Spending would be increased on sports facilities on the university campus to Rs. 62.10 lakh, from Rs. 50.6 lakh, while Rs. 500 as monthly stipend for 10 months will be given to train visually-challenged students at the Braille Centre.
The Rs. 232.22-crore budget, which estimates a deficit of Rs. 6.41 crore, was approved by the council albeit with minor changes.
However, the meeting started on a stormy note with members of the Academic Council raising objection to the annual accounts report for 2010-11 for its “embarrassing” errors.
Glaring error
Financial Officer N. Rangaswamy came under attack for what members called a “shoddily prepared” annual accounts report. Members pointed out glaring mistakes in the report, from the overvalued auditing charges, to the arithmetic discrepancy in the numbers when all cash inflows and outflows were tallied.
Member Karana Kumar called it “embarrassing” and said, “this is not the way a university should present its annual report.” Members also questioned why a university that does little sales, should have paid the Government over Rs. 46.34 lakh as sales tax.”
“We are not a commercial establishment to pay sales tax. What are we selling?” asked member R. Karuna Moorthy.
Admitting to errors in the report, Mr. Rangaswamy instead chose to blame the system of tallying used by the university. “The Tally system should be updated. Even the external auditors hired have advised us on this,” he said.
