The High Court of Karnataka has ordered issue of notice to the State government on a petition questioning the extension of one year in the post granted to S. Vidyashankar, Vice-Chancellor of Mysuru-based Karnataka State Open University (KSOU).
Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav passed the order on a petition filed by K. Mahadev, 77, a member of the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board of the Mysore University and former General Secretary of Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha (RVS).
The court also ordered issue of notice to Mr. Vidyashankar, whose tenure has been extended for one year from May 30, 2022.
It has been alleged in the petition that Mr. Vidyashankar, who was a professor in Mechanical Engineering in the Bangalore Institute of Technology run by the RVS, was appointed as V-C in 2019 despite him facing charges of malpractices while serving in BIT.
Alleging that Mr. Vidyashankar was involved in several corrupt and illegal practices in the administration of the KSOU in the past three years, it has been pointed out in the petition that both the Chancellor and the State government have failed to consider the alleged illegalities despite several representations submitted by the petitioner and other prominent persons in this regard.
The petitioner has also contended that the provisions of the law for granting a one-year extension for V-Cs has been exercised without application of mind.
