Prabhu Dev hits back at critics

The Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, N Prabhu Dev, has hit back at his critics who want his ouster and called them a “mafia scared of the reforms.”

A day after some members of the university’s Syndicate and the Academic Council as well as a section of the staff staged a symbolic protest at Central College, Prabhu Dev vowed that the vested interests would not “scare me into submission.”

He claimed that the protesters were afraid of the academic and examination reforms introduced after he took charge three-and-a-half years ago. The protesters did not want a “thorough change” in the pre-existing rewarding exam system, Prabhu Dev said.

He also disputed the actual number of Syndicate members who want him to go. Only five of the 21 members were against him, the VC affirmed, saying that they began opposing him when he refused to appoint them chairpersons of the local inspection committees (LICs).

The old government order (GO) disallowed Syndicate members from chairing the LICs which recommend colleges for affiliation. “It’s a golden opportunity for these members to make money by recommending dubious colleges for affiliation,” Prabhu Dev said, adding that when he refused to toe their line, a section of the Syndicate had walked out of the meeting. They later got a GO issued that allowed them to be chairpersons of the LICs.

The VC denied any irregularity in the examination branch. “(The) rule book has been followed to the last word,” he claimed and said that the five members wanted a “captive” VC. “When I refused, they started a war. All my time is spent in fire fighting,” Prabhu Dev said.