BANGALORE: "The University Grants Commission (UGC) has granted autonomy to 31 colleges in the State. But the State Government has approved autonomy to only six colleges. If all the approved colleges are made autonomous, the managements of these colleges will become powerful and they may not abide by the rules of the Government. This fear has made the Government exercise restraint on the matter," Basavaraj Horatti, Minister for Small Savings, Science and Technology, said here on Wednesday.

At a seminar on "Autonomy to Colleges: Perceptions and Challenges" organised by the NMKRV College for Women, Mr. Horatti said he is not against granting autonomy to colleges.

"Autonomy with respect to academics is good but the rights of teachers should be protected. When any kind of action is to be taken against teachers, especially with regard to suspension and termination, the Government needs to be consulted. If this clause is included in the process of granting autonomy, there will be no hurdles at all," he added.

He said 85 per cent of the colleges are run by private managements in north Karnataka and teachers are not being treated well. The job security of teachers should be ensured and this should be a prerogative before granting autonomy to colleges, he added.

The NMKRV College is one among the 81 colleges in the country to be granted autonomy and approval by the State.

He said questions such as why autonomous colleges should be given UGC grants?, and why colleges that have been enjoying grants for the past 30 years should still be supported? Are yet to be answered.

"In the past eight years, the Government has not appointed even one teacher in first grade colleges.

"This has given impetus to the unhealthy trend of hiring contract teachers, which is rampant. Such colleges should not be given autonomy," he said.

The UGC gave a grant of Rs. 20 crores recently to Karnataka and Kerala. The grants for southern States are less compared to States such as Uttar Pradesh, he said. "One of the prime motives of granting autonomy is to lessen the burden of the university, and to allow more freedom to the colleges in designing their curriculum and to make the syllabi locally relevant," Manju Singh, Deputy Secretary and Regional Head, South Western Regional Office, UGC, said.

"The academic freedom of the teaching faculty plays a pivotal role in enhancing the intellectual climate of the country and augurs well to the state of higher studies in India," she said.

She said the UGC will grant Rs. 12 lakhs every year to multi-faculty colleges. An honorary grant of Rs. 5,000 a month will be given to the Controller of Examination.

Autonomy once granted is not permanent and is valid only for six years. At the end of the fourth year, the colleges will be reviewed by a team of representatives from the University, UGC, the State and by two independent authorities. If the performance of the colleges is found to be unsatisfactory, the permission can be revoked, she said.

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