Date:04/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/04/stories/2007040425410100.htm

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Minister asks tainted VCs to resign

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: In response to an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishath (ABVP) demonstration in front of his residence, Higher Education Minister, D.H. Shankaramurthy on Tuesday urged the Vice-Chancellors of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) and the Women's University, both facing corruption charges, to resign on moral grounds. The Minister told the agitating ABVP activists that the Government had faced some legal problems in removing the two officials.

But he assured them that the matter would be taken up in the Cabinet and appropriate action taken.

The two officials had been indicted by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), the ABVP reminded the Minister. The ABVP activists wanted the Minister to reconsider the fee structure arrangement with private professional college managements.

ABVP's State unit organising secretary N. Ravikumar said the Government, while increasing the fee beyond the reach of most candidates, had surrendered a large number of seats to private managements.

The committees appointed to monitor the admission process and fee structure had been dismissed and this had caused hardships to poor and meritorious students, he recalled.

Mr. Shankaramurthy reportedly assured the ABVP that the Government would announce its final decision on fee structure and seat-sharing after the current session of the legislature.