2 members seek annulment of BCU syndicate decisions

LETTER TO GUV

2 members seek annulment of BCU syndicate decisions

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:19.04.2021

Two syndicate members of Bengaluru City University have written to the governor and the state government questioning three decisions recently approved by the syndicate, notwithstanding their dissent.

According to Karan Kumar and Jyothi Vijay, the syndicate approved the campus redevelopment plans of the academic block and sports complex without the authorised agency showing approved plans and estimates on paper. They pointed out that the cost estimate of a building of 45,000 sqft carpet area has been quoted at Rs 31.7 crore, a much inflated figure.

The duo demanded withdrawal of the proposed ‘Master plan of campus redevelopment for BCU’ as it lacked an approved master plan, a detailed project report (DPR) and detailed estimates. They also wanted the decision on allocation of resources for the proposed sports facilities over the academic block in the proposed phase 1 scrapped as it was skewed and not in line with the aspirations of the significant stakeholders of the university. They wanted the proposal to demolish the ‘yet-to-be-used new block’ withdrawn as it was inconsistent with the NEP 2020 goal of having a minimum of 5,000 students in a university, among other reasons.

“We voiced our dissent during the syndicate meeting but were overruled by a majority vote. But if the decisions are wrong and don’t conform to the Act, the government can annul them. We’ve written to the chancellor and the pro-chancellor, apart from the principal secretary of the higher education department, highlighting the errors. If the government does not interfere, I plan to seek legal justice,” said Kumar. The decisions were made at the special syndicate meeting on February 25 and March 20.

The members also expressed displeasure over two more tenders — e-Document Generation System and the Rs 1-crore tender on e-governance in exam — approved by the syndicate, which they fear will be a den of corruption.

BNU exams to begin today

Bengaluru North University has announced its new schedule for exams that were postponed due to the transport strike. They will be held from Monday (April 19). Details are available on website www.bnu.ac.in. This includes BA, BSc, BEd, MA, MSc, MCA, MCom, MA, MFA, MSW, MBA and MTTM programmes. Meanwhile, some students have raised concerns about the university conducting offline exams in the middle of the pandemic. “...We’re dealing with the most unresponsive and apathetic education system. We want the exams to be cancelled. It’s not plausible to gather in a hall together to write exams while the country averages 2 lakh positive cases every day,” read a tweet.