Storm brews in BU Syndicate

Prof K V Acharya, a senior member of Bangalore University (BU) Syndicate who had refused to apologise for ''abusing'' the Vice-Chancellor and the senior-most dean last week, walked out of the special meeting of the varsity’s highest decision-making body and sat in protest on Wednesday.

Prof Acharya stormed out denouncing Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev for not sending him the invitation and a copy of the meeting's agenda. Policemen were deployed at the venue to prevent any untoward incident. He said he walked out because “he was not allowed to speak”.

Dev clarified that Acharya would be allowed as advised by Minister for Higher Education V S Acharya in a letter to him, despite the refusal of the retired professor to show repentance and remorse in writing.

But Acharya wanted the meeting to be postponed as he had not been invited. When Dev refused to do so as the varsity's budget estimates had to be approved and sent to the State Government by March 31, Acharya walked out. Efforts to bring Acharya back failed.

Acharya, however, has a different take. “They said I could speak only if I apologised. But I refused and stormed out,” he told Deccan Herald.

Three members, T H Srinivasaiah, C K Jagadeesh Prasad and D S Krishna also walked out. While the Registrar (Administration) said they walked out as they wanted the formation of Local Inspection Committees (LICs) for 2011-12 to be postponed, Acharya claimed that the trio acted to “support” him. Reliable sources said the whole issue was about the creation of LICs that scrutinise colleges for affiliation. A few members wanted to be part of LICs, against the Government guidelines that Syndicate members should not be part of the committees, the sources said.  

Still, the Syndicate decided to set up 30 LICs for as many groups of colleges. Each LIC will have four members, including teachers and Academic Council members. The budget estimates for 2011-12 were also approved.