Bengaluru: After Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah too has opposed the draft amendment to regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to grant more powers to governors in appointments of vice-chancellors (VCs) and also allowing non-academics to hold these posts.
"This is a move aimed at taking away the powers of the states. I strongly condemn it," Siddaramaiah said in a release here on Wednesday. "Our government will not tolerate any efforts aimed at destroying our federal system. We will take a suitable step after discussing the issue with the non-BJP state governments," he added.
Ever since the Modi government came to power, the Governors have been increasingly interfering in the appointments of VCs, he said. There are also instances where Governors overlooked the state government's recommendations. "Education is a state subject and an unnecessary interference in it will lead to a confrontation between the Centre and the states," he added.
Currently, a search committee formed by the state government identifies and recommends names for the VC posts. A representative of the Governor, who is the chancellor of all the state-run universities, will also be there on the committee. "The proposed amendment takes away the power of setting up a search committee from the state government and hands it over to the Governor. It is nothing but a direct ride by the centre on the state governments," the CM said.
Further, he expressed concerns that the proposed amendment would pose the threat of non-Kannadigas taking over the posts of VCs of state's varsities. "Now we appoint experts and educationists from our state as VCs. But, the proposed amendment makes it mandatory to invite applications from candidates from all over the country. So the VC posts which were reserved for Kannadigas till now can go to outsiders. This way the centre is trying to betray Kannadigas," he said.
