JOIN USThe 51st convocation of Bangalore University (BU), which was scheduled for April 16, will now be held either on April 28 or May 6 with a new chief guest.
Vice Chancellor B Thimmegowda is in talks with the “chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)” to accept the invitation to be the chief guest of the convocation, said Registrar (Evaluation) K N Ningegowda.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a press meet on Wednesday after the BU Syndicate meeting.
Prof Anil Shahasrebudhe, former director of the College of Engineering, Pune, is presently the chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education.
“We want to finish the convocation as soon as possible. Two dates have been given, but we have not finalised,” he added.
Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smriti Irani, was originally scheduled to attend the convocation on April 16.
However, a number of student groups opposed her attending the event in the light of the recent incidents at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
An official said the university students were opposed to her attending the event, especially after the handling of the case of Rohit Vemula at HCU and the case of Kanhaiya Kumar from JNU.
“Many problems were anticipated. However, it is also a fact that on the particular day, when the convocation was originally scheduled, Irani did not have any dates to spare.”
Inspection committees
Highlighting the issue of the BU Syndicate members seeking to chair the local inspection committees (LICs), the Syndicate has decided to refer the matter to the government.
Under the present rules, the Syndicate members are not allowed to hold any position in the local inspection committees in charge of granting and renewing affiliations, increasing intake, etc.
This rule was framed after a Syndicate member, M Jayalakshmi Devi, was caught red-handed taking a bribe.
The government has recently issued an order, where two to three Syndicate members are allowed in the local inspection committee on a circulation basis.
“Statutory officials are for the order. However, we are awaiting the government’s decision on the matter,” said Ningegowda.
For the year 2016-17, as many as 20 local inspection committees will look into matters of affiliations and renewals of all the 670 colleges under the university.