Probe ordered against Yuvaraja's College principal

Acting on a petition filed by Vishwavidyanilayagala Ulisi Horata Samiti, Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande has directed the Principal Secretary for Higher Education Rajneesh Goel to inquire into the alleged tampering of service register by H Nanjegowda, principal, Yuvaraja’s College.

The issue, which was hurriedly closed by the University of Mysore (UoM) 10 months ago, has been again raised by the samiti.

According to the petition, Samiti president K S Shivaram had urged the minister to cancel the decision of UoM’s Syndicate on May 28, 2013, to promote BBM lecture Nanjegowda as principal.

Deshpande has directed the principal secretary to look into the allegation and had written a letter on December 27, 2013.

Samiti allegations

Shivaram, in his petition to the minister, has alleged that the promotion was illegal as Nanjegowda misused his service register.

“Nanjegowda was the Administrative Officer of Maharaja's College, another constituent college of the UoM. Prior to his appointment as principal, in order to claim seniority, he had tampered the date of joining in the service register and was caught red-handed. During the preliminary inquiry, Nanjegowda himself had admitted to the crime by giving an endorsement,” he said.

Further, the petition accused the UoM of trying to safeguard Nanjegowda, by writing a letter to retired district judge R Venkatesh, who was appointed as head of the investigation committee to probe the issue, to close down the matter.

Even the investigation committee, constituted during the tenure of former Vice-Chancellor V G Talawar, following a decision of the Syndicate, was not provided with the service registrar. Shivaram has also demanded legal action against the former vice-chancellor and registrar for misuse of power and illegality in promoting Nanjegowda.

When contacted, UoM Vice-Chancellor K S Rangappa said, two syndicate committees have already looked into the issue. However, he refused to comment on the outcome of the committee meetings.

H Nanjegowda, principal of Yuvaraja’s College and Higher Education Principal Secretary Rajneesh Goel were not available for comment.