Dr H Maheshappa to continue as VC for Next one year in VTU

Karnataka state Governor H R Bhardwaj has extended the service for one more year of Dr H Maheshappa as Vice-Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum.

This decision puts to an end to the appointment of VC for VTU.

Dr H Maheshappa said, "I have indeed received a notification from the Governor confirming my continuation as the VC of VTU for another year. I will report on duty on Belgaum on Tuesday,"

On Saturday, a search committee comprising former Kuvempu University V-C K Chidananda Gowda, VTU Engineering Dean D H Rao, Indian Institute of Science Director P Balaram and former V-C of Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, L M Patnaik met for nearly six hours at Raj Bhavan to finalise a shortlist of four names for the post of VTU VC.

Initially, The search committee has recommended the names of Prof. M. S. Shivakumar, Prof. Nagabhushan, Prof. K. R. Venugopal and Dr.H. Maheshappa. An officer from the higher education department told this newspaper that this is a classic example of how rules are bent when appointments to top posts in universities are made.

According to sources, the four names were University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) principal K R Venugopal, University of Mysore (UOM) professor P Nagabhushan, former VTU registrar M S Shivakumar and H Maheshappa, selected for appointment of VC to VTU.

According to VTU Act, 1994, provides for the Chancellor to extend the term of the VC by a year.