Varsity sidelines State government's directive; refuses nod to PG courses in 6 colleges

August 26, 2011

VC

Mangalore, August 26: In one of the significant decisions taken by the Mangalore University Academic Council on Thursday, the Council refused to blindly grant permission to start new post graduation courses in the government degree colleges as per the colleges' demand.

The decision has been taken in contrary to the recent directive issued by the State government instructing the seven government degree colleges that come under Mangalore University to introduce PG courses from the academic year 2011-12.

Addressing the second special meeting of the Academic Council at Mangalore University Senate Hall, University Vice Chancellor Prof T C Shivashankara Murthy said that the decision was taken based on the recommendations of the committees formed to examine the infrastructure facilities in seven colleges.

Accordingly, the Council has approved to start six PG courses in five colleges against the demand to start 17 PG courses by seven colleges. The Council did not grant permission to start 11 courses as demanded by six colleges. The Council declined the permission to start PG courses which was sought by two colleges namely Government First Grade College, Hebri, and Government First Grade College, Bantwal. On the other hand, the Committee permitted Rukmini Shedthi Memorial National Government First Grade College, Barkur, to introduce PG course in Maths, even though the College had sought permission for introducing PG courses in Economics, Physics, Maths, Psychology and Information Science.

The Council has granted fresh affiliation for M.Com course to Manjunath Pai Memorial Government First Grade College, Karkala and MA Kannada and MSW courses to Government First Grade College, Vittal. The request to introduce M.Com course in Vittal was denied. The Government First Grade College, Uppinangady, received permission to introduce M.Com course, while the College's plea to start MA Kannada course was denied. The Government First Grade College, Kushalnagar was denied of permission to start MA in Political Science while the college was permitted to introduce PG in Sociology.

Lack of infrastructure

The VC said that the reason behind not granting permission to start all the PG courses as per the government's instruction was due to poor faculty and infrastructure facilities in the colleges. “As per the committees observation, there is a huge shortage of faculty in most of the colleges. When the colleges are falling short of faculty members to teach degree students, how can they provide justice to the post graduate students?” he asked.

The Council also declined the recommendation of Joint Director Nataraj Urs who suggested to extend the number of seats in M.Com and MSW course in Barkur College. The VC declined the recommendation saying, “the college lacks infrastructure to teach the present number of students and it can not afford to teach more number of students.”

He informed that permission was granted to the colleges to start PG courses based on certain conditions. The government has laid down few norms with regard to the introduction of PG courses and the University can't break those norms while granting the permission. If the colleges come up with better infrastructure, permission will be granted to start post graduation courses from the next academic year, he stated. The University will send the order copy to the colleges on August 26 and the colleges are expected to finish the admission process within 10 days. The Vice Chancellor has asked the colleges to cover the syllabus within the prescribed time by engaging classes on holidays.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 23,2026

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot read only three lines from the 122-paragraph address prepared by the Congress-led state government while addressing the joint session of the Legislature on Thursday, effectively bypassing large sections critical of the BJP-led Union government.

The omitted portions of the customary Governor’s address outlined what the state government described as a “suppressive situation in economic and policy matters” under India’s federal framework. The speech also sharply criticised the Centre’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, commonly referred to as the VB-GRAM (G) Act.

Governor Gehlot had earlier conveyed his objection to several paragraphs that were explicitly critical of the Union government. On Thursday, he confined himself to the opening lines — “I extend a warm welcome to all of you to the joint session of the State legislature. I am extremely pleased to address this august House” — before jumping directly to the concluding sentence of the final paragraph.

He ended the address by reading the last line of paragraph 122: “Overall, my government is firmly committed to doubling the pace of the State’s economic, social and physical development. Jai Hind — Jai Karnataka.”

According to the prepared speech, the Karnataka government demanded the scrapping of the VB-GRAM (G) Act, describing it as “contractor-centric” and detrimental to rural livelihoods, and called for the full restoration of MGNREGA. The state government argued that the new law undermines decentralisation, weakens labour protections, and centralises decision-making in violation of constitutional norms.

Key points from the unread sections of the speech:

•    Karnataka facing a “suppressive” economic and policy environment within the federal system

•    Repeal of MGNREGA described as a blow to rural livelihoods

•    VB-GRAM (G) Act accused of protecting corporate and contractor interests

•    New law alleged to weaken decentralised governance

•    Decision-making said to be imposed by the Centre without consulting states

•    Rights of Adivasis, women, backward classes and agrarian communities curtailed

•    Labourers allegedly placed under contractor control

•    States facing mounting fiscal stress due to central policies

•    VB-GRAM (G) Act accused of enabling large-scale corruption

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.