Karnataka CM Bommai puts public varsities draft Bill on hold

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has blocked a new Bill that proposed changes in the functioning of public universities.

As a result, the Karnataka State Public Higher Education Institutions Bill will not be tabled in the ongoing session of the legislature despite undergoing multiple changes, sources said.

Accordingly, the Bill did not come up for approval in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

According to sources, CM Bommai and Law Minister J C Madhuswamy were not convinced with the provisions of the Bill. The Bill, which was drafted based on recommendations of the V K Aatre committee, was presented to Bommai on December 21, a meeting that resulted in him asking Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan to drop the Bill for now.

“Somehow, the CM was not convinced,” a source said.

Initially, the Bill proposed to take away the governor’s power to appoint vice-chancellors. This provision was changed to retain the governor’s power.

Subsequently, other changes were made to the draft Bill based on suggestions of the finance and law departments.

Before the draft was presented to Bommai, some major changes were made based on suggestions made by academicians linked to the ABVP and RSS, it is learnt.

For example, the draft Bill said no university can put immovable property on rent, sale or transfer without prior approval of the government. “There were objections to this, especially the use of the word ‘sale’. This was changed a day before it was presented to the CM,” an official said.

It is also said that there were concerns over the draft Bill’s provision to replace the Syndicate in universities with a Board of Governors that would have corporate or industry leaders as members.

When contacted, Madhuswamy declined to comment and said, “We cannot talk about the Bill before it is scrutinised.”