IAS officer Rashmi Mahesh appointed to BMS Trust

The state government has appointed senior IAS officer Rashmi V Mahesh as its nominee to the BMS Educational Trust (BMSET) following the allegations of misappropriation there.

Generally, the principal secretary of the Higher Education Department or Commissioner for Collegiate/Technical Education gets nominated by the government. This time, it has appointed Rashmi Mahesh, the principal secretary of the Revenue Department.

Sources told DH that the reason for nominating Rashmi Mahesh is to keep watch on the activities at the BMSET as the government is planning to constitute an inquiry committee.

It can be recalled that in a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah involving Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar, it was decided to constitute a committee headed by an IAS officer to inquire into the affairs of the BMSET, which runs BMS institutions in Bengaluru.

A few days after the CM’s meeting, BMSET trustee and BMS College of Engineering chairperson P Dayananda Pai met Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

In September last year, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had raised allegations of irregularities at the BMSET in the Assembly. He had accused the then Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan of quid pro quo in clearing a file allowing billionaire Dayananda Pai’s appointment as life trustee of BMSET.