Raj Bhavan sources confirm governor’s receipt of 3 names

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 7: The state government clarified that it had send a panel of 3 names, which were recommended by the Search Committee for the post of vice chancellor of Mangalore University, but had recommended Prof Thimme Gowda for the post. The government had forwarded the names of T C Shivashankar Murthy of the University of Mysore, Abdur Rehman of Kuvempu University, and Thimme Gowda of Mangalore University in compliance with the Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act of 2000, clarified government sources. 

Government sources also said that the government had recommended Dr. Gowda for the post of vice chancellor of Mangalore because the appointment has to be made by the governor in concurrence with the government of Karnataka. In fact, the government had not made a recommendation only once after the KSU Act 2000 was brought into effect and that was for the appointment of the vice chancellor of Women’s University of Bijapur, which took place during the president’ rule. This was the government’s response to Governor H R Bharadwaj’s rejection of its recommendation of Dr. Gowda for the post of vice chancellor of Mangalore University. 

Reliable sources in Raj Bhavan confirmed that the governor had indeed received a panel of 3 names; but had not approved of the candidate recommended by the government and felt that social justice and equity has not be taken into consideration, especially since Dr. Murthy is a dalit and Dr. Abdur Rahman belongs to a minority community although Dr. Gowda was found to be the most meritorious of them. 

Sources in the governor’s office said that, according to the KSU Act, the chancellor will take into consideration the factors of equity, merit, and social justice and appoint one of the names in the panel for the post of vice chancellor of Mangalore University. A Raj Bhavan official was quoted as saying: “The government’s recommendation should be made after concurring with the governor and not before it.” The official also said that the governor has not rejected the panel; so there is no need to appoint another Search Committee to recommend another panel.