Act against varsities indulged in corruption; MLA tells minister

MANGALURU: BJP MLA C T Ravi urged the state government to initiate an inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court into the alleged financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 500 crore by 17 state universities as admitted by higher education minister Basavaraj ayareddy.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Ravi held the present Congress government in the state responsible for the rot in the higher education.
“It all started with former Governor H R Bharadwaj. He literally put the posts of vice-chancellors for sale based on caste, creed and money power of the aspirants. In recent times, a very few have made it to the post on merit,” he said.
He also urged Rayareddy not to stop at admitting that corruption exists in universities, but initiate action against those responsible for it. “The minister should tell people how many cases the government has filed against university officials in this regard to make people believe about his intention,’’ he demanded.
On the issue of state government crying foul over, what it termed as meagre drought relief assistance, released by the centre, Ravi, citing statistics from 2008, made it clear that the centre has never released what Karnataka had sought for in times of natural disasters that it faced.
Financial assistance of Rs 1,540 crore and Rs 1,782 crore was given to Karnataka by the Centre in 2015-16 and 2016-17, which is the highest that the state has ever got from the Centre since 2008 and it is up to the state to effectively use it.
Describing the issue of spat between party leaders B S Yeddyurappa and K S Eshwarappa as unfortunate, Ravi, said: “All leaders should set aside their individual pride and work for ensuring victory for the party in the coming assembly elections.
N Yogish Bhat, K Monappa Bhandary, and other leaders were present.