Vacate college room: UVCE tells ex-VC of Bangalore varsity

Former Bangalore University (BU) vice-chancellor K R Venugopal has been asked to vacate the ‘unauthorised’ occupation of a room at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), despite his retirement as a faculty member in 2018.

On Monday, at the second Board of Governors (BoG) meeting of UVCE, which is now an autonomous university, Venugopal was asked to vacate the room immediately.

A room was allotted at UVCE to Venugopal, when he was a regular faculty there teaching computer science.

“Even after retirement from service and also when he was the vice-chancellor of Bangalore University, he was using the room. Respecting his seniority and as he was the vice-chancellor, we did not question him. But, after completing his tenure as vice-chancellor he continued to stay in the UVCE room till late in the night and even during holidays,” said a senior official of UVCE.

Apparently, Venugopal took classes for postgraduate students without the university’s approval. “To take classes even as a guest faculty, there are regulations to follow,” said a senior faculty of UVCE.

A letter written to Venugopal by UVCE principal and interim director H N Ramesh, a copy of which is with DH, stated: “I would like to bring to your kind notice that you have not vacated the room allotted when you were a regular faculty of computer science and engineering department of UVCE, even after your retirement from service on October 31, 2018.” UVCE has requested Venugopal to vacate the room immediately as it is “very much required for other official purposes,” Ramesh stated.

“I respect your interest in continuing your willingness to teach our students even after your retirement. Even now if you are willing to teach, you are most welcome to do so, with the approval of the BoG chairman,” it said.

When contacted, UVCE Board of Governors chairperson B Muthuraman said this was an internal matter and declined to comment. Venugopal was unavailable for comment.