The Save Karnatak University Committee has urged Governor Vajubhai Vala to direct the vice-chancellor to withdraw the order of declaration of probationary of the teaching staff appointed by the then Vice-Chancellor H.B. Walikar.
In a letter to the Governor, committee chairman and former Syndicate member Jayanth K.S. has said that 16 professors, 13 associate professors and 57 assistant professors were appointed during the tenure of Mr. Walikar.
The university declared seven professors, seven associate professors, and 38 assistant professors as probationary at the Syndicate meeting on October 4, 2017.
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The appointments made during Mr. Walikar’s tenure came under the scanner of the authorities concerned for alleged irregularities. Later, an inquiry committee appointed by the Governor too showed illegalities in these appointments. A Special Leave Petition against Mr. Walikar is pending before the Supreme Court. This being the case, regularising such appointments is totally against the law, he said.
Further, the declaration of probationary too was made in violation of the norms. Many of these appointments were subject to certain conditions and one of them was that the candidates appointed to the post of the professor are required to produce at least one Ph.D candidates under their guidance within three years from the date of joining the university.
However, information procured under RTI in the case of one professor of the Department of English, who was appointed in 2013, showed that this particular candidate had not guided any Ph.D. candidate during the last four years. But her probationary has been declared by the Syndicate.
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There are other cases of similar nature, Mr. Jayanth said and urged the Governor to withdraw the orders declaring all teaching staff appointed by Mr. Walikar as probationary and strike down the decisions of the Syndicate taken on October 4, 2017.
A detailed inquiry may also be initiated, Mr. Jayanth said.