Trifurcation of Bangalore University gets House nod

Trifurcation of Bangalore University came closer to reality with the Legislative Assembly on Friday passing an amendment bill fixing the jurisdiction of the new universities.

The Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2015, provides for restructuring of the existing Bangalore University by establishing three universities - Bangalore University (BU) with its headquarters at Jnanabharati campus, BU (Central) with its headquarters at the Central College campus and BU (North) with its headquarters at Jangamakote in Shidlaghatta taluk. Till the completion of the Jangamakote campus, BU (North) will have its headquarters at the Kolar PG centre.

Piloting the bill, Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande said the trifurcation process had become inevitable for streamlining the running of the varsities. At present, Bangalore University has over 600 constituent colleges and 3.5 lakh students. The assembly constituencies in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts have been taken as the unit for division.

BJP members said splitting colleges in Bengaluru among three universities could lead to confusion. C T Ravi (BJP) suggested that colleges in Bengaluru Rural and Kolar could be clustered into two universities and all colleges in the BBMP limits be clustered into one university.

He recalled that the then governor H R Bhardwaj had rejected a bill passed by the BJP government to bifurcate Bangalore University and set up a new varsity - DVG Jnanavahini University - with headquarters at Hoskote.

Aravind Limbavali (BJP) suggested that thrust should be given to quality rather than quantity considerations. More grants should be provided to universities and the present allocation of Rs 10 crore proposed in the bill was not sufficient.The bill is yet to come up for consideration in the legislative council.