The Hindu : Karnataka News : Law college facing threat of closure

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Karnataka

Karnataka

Law college facing threat of closure

Staff Correspondent

Construction work on a new campus has stopped due to delay in getting funds

NEEDS HELP: The Government Law College on the premises of the Government College for Boys in Kolar.

KOLAR: The Government Law College here is facing the threat of closure due to lack of infrastructure, including a building. Though the college was established here in 1996, the Government has failed in providing the college a building of its own and other infrastructure. Two rooms of the library section of the Government College for Boys house the legal educational institution.

Over the years, the number of rooms on the same premises has risen to four, and the number of books in the library has been increased to 400 from 40 books initially. Apart from this, there has been no progress in the college. Recently, five Government Law colleges were started in the State.

The absence of a library, computers, hall to conduct mock court coupled with scarcity of required staff in the Kolar college has attracted the ire of the Bar Council of India. During a visit here last year, a Bar Council of India team reprimanded the authorities saying that infrastructure was not fit even to run a primary school. The comment is enough to shed light on the sorry state of affairs of the college.

Despite repeated warnings by the Bar Council that the college would be de-recognised, the Directorate of Collegiate Education has failed to act swiftly.

However, the college got a reprieve due to the frequent agitations by students and the timely intervention by the Government at a crucial stage.

A deadline to provide infrastructure and the student protests made the Government to act. The Government has sanctioned 4.20 acres of land at Arahalli village in Kolar taluk and announced the allocation of Rs. 1 crore for the construction of a campus for the law college.

However, due to procedural intricacies in getting the funds released from the departments concerned, construction work has stopped. Notwithstanding the funds crunch, contractor Basavaraj has spent about Rs. 35 lakh on his own. “’If the college loses recognition, students will suffer. The need to retain the law college in Kolar has driven me to mobilise money on my own from several sources,” Mr. Basavaraj told The Hindu.

According to sources in the Public Works Department, it did not get enough funds from the Department of Collegiate Education. Hence, work is going on at a slow pace. “If the Government provides the required funds, work can be completed within four months,” Mr. Basavaraj said.

With the deadline set by the Bar Council expiring, the fear of closure of the college haunts the students as well as their parents. The reported initiative of the Bar Council with regard to de-recognising the college in Kolar and Ramnagaram has created panic among the 400 students of the college here.

Perturbed over the developments, a group of students, led by Vidyarthi Janata Dal (Secular) district president B. Suresh Gowda, recently submitted a memorandum to K.V. Karnadanda Ramaiah, Director of Collegiate Education, in Bangalore urging him to ensure the completion of the building at the earliest.

Responding to the concerns of the students, Mr. Ramaiah reportedly told the delegation that the directorate has written to the Bar Council requesting it to permit enrolment for 2008-09.

“Apathy on the part of the people’s representatives, including MP K.H. Muniyappa, previous district in-charge Ministers K. Srinivas Gowda and R. Srinivas, is responsible for the situation,” Mr. Suresh Gowda alleged. “It will be injustice to the backward Kolar district if the Government Law College was closed,” Mr. Suresh Gowda said.

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