The State government has withdrawn the order on appointments of presidents and members to as many as 21 trusts and endowments which come under the Department of Kannada and Culture within 24 hours of being announced.
The government had drawn flak for some errors in the order, including the inclusion of deceased persons in the list. Among them, the list included the name of late Rajeshwari Poornachandra Tejaswi, well-known writer’s wife, as a member of the Poornachandra Tejaswi Foundation in Chikkamagaluru. She passed away eight months ago.
After strong criticism by various writers, activists, and the public about such mistakes, and some people also rejecting appointments, the government withdrew that order on Thursday.
‘Will re-constitute’
In Udupi, Minister for Kannada and Culture V. Sunil Kumar said that the government would further re-constitute all trusts under the department by Monday by correcting the goof-up noticed and dropping the names of those who were not interested to be part of the re-constituted trusts approved on Wednesday.
The Minister admitted that the names of two deceased persons had been added to the list of members of trusts and expressed regret. The list approved on Wednesday had been prepared in December last, he said.
Mr. Kumar said that the trusts were constituted as they were in the hold of certain individuals, families, and teams for many years. Some of them were defunct for many years. New members were added to revitalise the trusts.