Karnataka: Bangalore University students call off protest after varsity assurance over ‘halting’ funds transfer to UVCE

The students had earlier claimed that finance officer Vijayalakshmi and vice-chancellor KR Venugopal violated norms in allocating funds for the UVCE by not convening a meeting of the syndicate or consulting the finance committee.

The university has also reportedly agreed to withdraw the police complaint filed against the students, following which the union has called off the protest. (File)

Bangalore University (BU) students decided to call off their agitation Tuesday after the university administration agreed to withdraw funds allocated for developing the mechanical engineering branch of the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), among other demands. The students had earlier claimed that finance officer Vijayalakshmi and vice-chancellor KR Venugopal violated norms in allocating funds for the UVCE, which is an autonomous institute, by not convening a meeting of the syndicate or consulting the finance committee.

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Vijayalakshmi had also registered a complaint at Jnanabharathi police station against a few students, including two research scholars, when they reportedly sought an explanation from her over the allocation. “At BU, we lack proper hostel facilities, digital and physical infrastructure. The students presented a memorandum before the university to address these problems. Instead, the administration is providing funds amounting to Rs 29 crore for an autonomous college. It is the duty of the state government to fund such initiatives and not snatch funds from the BU. When we sought an explanation from the finance officer on this, she retaliated by filing a police complaint,” said Lokesh Ram, a research scholar at the university.

The students’ union had Monday decided to boycott classes seeking immediate withdrawal of funds and the police complaint against the students. On Tuesday, the university agreed to pass an affidavit to follow legal procedures and withdraw funds allocated for the construction of the mechanical block of the UVCE. The university has also reportedly agreed to withdraw the police complaint filed against the students, following which the union has called off the protest.

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