Karnataka - Mysore   

Third acting VC for Mysore university

MYSORE: Even as the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor for University of Mysore remains caught in procedural and legal tangles, Governor Rameshwar Thakur has appointed the senior-most dean in the university C.P. Siddhashrama as the new acting Vice-Chancellor.

According to a recent order issued by the Governor, who is the Chancellor of all Universities in the State, dean of faculty of arts, Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies, Prof. Siddhashrama has been appointed as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, with effect from November 5.

Acting Vice-Chancellor T.C. Shivashankar Murthy’s term as dean, faculty of science and technology, ends on November 4.

Prof. Siddhashrama said, “I have been instructed to take charge as the acting Vice-Chancellor on the morning of November 5.” However, Prof. Siddhashrama said he would be carrying out day-to-day academic activitiesof the university till a full-time Vice Chancellor was appointed. “Though an acting Vice-Chancellor has full powers to carry out routine activities there will be certain limitations under the law,” he said and added that the Search Committee was expected to recommend a name for the post of Vice-Chancellor in the coming days.

Incidentally, Prof. Siddhashrama is the third consecutive acting Vice-Chancellor to be named by Raj Bhavan after J. Shashidhar Prasad’s term as Vice-Chancellor ended in October 2007.

Soon after Prof. Prasad’s term came to an end, the then senior-most dean, Department of Law, Eshwar Bhat, was appointed as acting Vice-Chancellor on October 23, 2007. When Prof. Bhat’s term ended, Prof. Murthy took charge as the acting Vice-Chancellor on February 19, 2008.

The university is making do with acting Vice-Chancellors for more than a year now on account of the procedural and legal wrangles regarding the process of selecting a new Vice-Chancellor.

The committee constituted to find a successor to Prof. Prasad was dissolved after the Governor rejected all the three names recommended by it. The constitution of a new committee headed by former Visvesvaraya Technological Institute (VTU) Vice-Chancellor K. Balaveera Reddy was questioned in the High Court by Marithibbe Gowda, MLC.

When the case came up for hearing in the High Court recently, the Government defended its decision on the grounds that the original committee had refused to recommend a second list of names when the Governor had sought it. The High Court has now issued a notice to the Governor and posted the case for further hearing to the third week of November.

In yet another complication, noted scientist and scientific advisor to the Prime Minister C.N.R. Rao has withdrawn from the committee headed by Mr. Reddy. Now, the Government will have to find a replacement for Prof. Rao.

Prof. Siddashrama will remain the acting Vice-Chancellor till a full-time Vice Chancellor is appointed or till his term as senior-most dean ends, whichever is earlier.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Depicting the charm that is Orissa
Training programme
‘No decline in the number of accidents on highway’
Public urged to make use of facilities at ART Centre
Third acting VC for Mysore university
Trains to operate between Mysore and Chamarajanagar shortly

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu