The State Cabinet on Thursday approved a draft bill to set up the M S Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, a private university on the lines of Azim Premji University, in Bangalore.

Briefing reporters about the Cabinet decisions, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar said the M S Ramaiah group had come forward to set up the university.
The group has already invested Rs 100 crore on building infrastructure.

An additional Rs 150 crore will be spent in the next five years for the proposed varsity.

The university will be self-financed and there will be no financial burden on the State government.

It will offer courses in technical, medical, management, naturopathy, doctoral studies and life sciences.

The bill will be placed before the coming session of the State legislature, the minister said.

The Cabinet approved a Rs seven-crore project to construct a multipurpose industrial exhibition centre in Hubli.

A special purpose vehicle called the Hubli-Dharwad Exhibition Centre will be set up to implement the project.

While the State government will bear 85 per cent of the cost, the Hubli-Dharwad Chamber of Commerce will spend 15 per cent, the Minister Suresh Kumar said.

Term extended

The Cabinet extended the term of the A J Sadashiva Commission of Inquiry till May 31, 2012.

The Commission’s term had expired in December 2011. It had sought extension of time as it wanted to compile all information it had collected over the years, Kumar said. The Commission was set up in 2005 to review discrimination of and inequitable distribution of constitutional benefits to Scheduled Castes in the State.  It is one of the longest serving Commissions of Inquiry in the State. Kumar, who also holds the Bangalore water supply portfolio, said the cabinet did not discuss the proposed revision of water tariff by the BWSSB.

Other Cabinet approvals

*Allotment of residential sites to those who lost their lands for the Hubli airport expansion project
* Special development package of Rs 50 crore for  Chikkaballapur district
*Construction of yatrinivas at Adichunchanagiri kshetra at a cost of Rs five crore
* Rs 24.6-crore water supply and UDG project for Kukke Subramanya
* A Rs 20.71-crore water supply project for Jamkhandi town
* A Rs 5.70-crore water supply project for Bellavi and five surrounding villages in Tumkur district
* Sanction of Rs 8.06 crore for drinking water project and Rs 17 crore for underground drain works in Kukke Subramanya, Sullia, Dakshina Kannada

State Budget on March 21

The Cabinet decided to convene the budget session of the State legislature from March 20. However, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will present the budget on March 21 as the session would pay tribute to late V S Acharya on March 20.