University senates abolished

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 20. The senates of all the six universities in the State have been abolished with effect from September 13 when the Karnataka Universities Act came into force. The Act received the Governor's approval the previous day.

With the notification of the Act, the Academic Council, Syndicate, Finance Committee and Board of Appointment of the universities have to be reconstituted by issuance of notifications by each university.

According to a circular issued by the Government a few days ago, till such time these bodies of a university are reconstituted, the Vice-Chancellor may, with the previous approval of the Chancellor, discharge all or any of the functions of the university to carry out the purposes of the Act.

The circular, copies of which were made available to the Press on Thursday by the Minister of State for Higher Education, Dr. G. Parameshwar, emphasises that action must be initiated immediately to reconstitute the statutory bodies.

It says that major policy decisions should be deferred till the bodies are reconstituted and on no account should such decisions be implemented without the prior approval of the Chancellor and the Government, as the case may be. To a question, Dr. Parameshwar said the Vice- Chancellors would continue till their three-year term was over. Under the Act, the term of new Vice- Chancellors would be four years.

Ragging

Meanwhile, the Government has asked the educational authorities to combat ragging and not to give any scope for such incidents in the current academic year. It has asked officials to enforce the guidelines incorporated in a circular issued in August last year as well as those in the judgment of the Supreme Court in May this year.

The directive follows a request by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to universities and educational institutions to take immediate steps to follow the recent guidelines of the Supreme Court. The UGC has warned of measures against universities where cases of ragging are reported.

In a recent circular, the Government asked the authorities to construe the guidelines in the Supreme Court judgment of May 4 as supplementary to the circular.

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Section  : Southern States
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