Ex-Chief Secretary to decide whether University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering to remain under B'lore Univ's control

Former chief secretary S V Ranganath will chair the panel that will decide the fate of University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) on whether it will remain in Bangalore University's control or be handed over to Bangalore Central University.

A government order (GO) to this effect should be issued shortly, BH Anil Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, confirmed. Prof S A Kori, who previously chaired a committee to decide on BU trifurcation issues, will also be part of this committee as a convener.

Anil Kumar told TNIE, "The Kori Committee was constituted to look into all issues pertaining to Bangalore University's trifurcation. This committee will only look into UVCE ownership."

When questioned about the resolution that the principal and HoDs of UVCE came out with, citing reasons to remain with BU, he said, "The committee will examine the resolution they have passed and come out with their findings. The government will take a decision based on that. The GO will be issued on Tuesday."

"The chairperson will decide on the date of the meeting. There is no deadline fixed as such. I hope they will give their decision quickly. The universities may have their personal opinions but the government will take a decision that is in the best interest of the students and faculty. This committee has been formed to give a fair chance to everybody -- BU and BCU," he added.

Ranganath, who is currently Vice-Chairman of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council, said, "I haven't received the GO yet. Possibly there is something to be said for both sides -- BU and BCU. But I haven't gone too deeply into it. After the committee is formed, I will be able to comment."

"Committee after committee will be formed but they're unlikely to touch UVCE under BU till 2022, till the current engineering batch graduates. According to the All India Council for Technical Education handbook, two campuses of a college can exist within a distance of 20km. The distance between KR Circle campus and Jnana Bharathi campus is 11.3km, so it's well within the permitted radius," a senior BU official said.

A senior UVCE official said, "We have submitted our resolution to the BU registrar. Our teachers and students don't want to be disturbed. Choice-Based Credit System was implemented with great difficulty. We declared our results in record time. The momentum has been created towards autonomy. We are expecting the government to appoint teachers so that we can get NBA accreditation."

The officials said that all colleges which started around the same time as UVCE have already become autonomous universities. "If we join BCU, it doesn't have 12B and 2f status, we have to start the process all over again by taking AICTE approval and go back ten years," the official said.