Joint action committee demands V-C's scalp

Disgruntled elements in Bangalore University (BU) have begun their protest, demanding Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev be sent on compulsory leave. The latter, however, has continued to ignore the protestors.

The Joint Action Committee, consisting of a few members of the University’s Syndicate and Academic Council, as well as a section of the staff, held a symbolic protest at BU’s Central College campus here on Tuesday.

Financial irregularities

The committee has accused Prabhu Dev of ‘financial irregularities.’

He has ‘siphoned off’ crores of rupees in the nearly three-and-a-half years he has been heading the University, it said. It also charged him for not calling the meeting of the Syndicate, as stipulated under the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000.

“The V-C should be sent on compulsory leave for four months,” D S Krishna, president of the committee, said.

When asked if it would not be unfair to declare Prabhu Dev ‘guilty’ without an inquiry, Krishna said that an independent probe was ‘impossible’ as long as the V-C was at the helm. “He will sabotage every inquiry,” Krishna said.

Mylarappa supports V-C

Interestingly, B C Mylarappa, BU Registrar (Administration) and Prabhu Dev’s bitter critic, appears to be supporting the V-C in this hour of crisis.

He sought to distance himself from the protestors and said “I have nothing to do with them.”

“I’m solidly behind him (the V-C),” Mylarappa told Deccan Herald. Prabhu Dev was not available for comments.