Anonymous letter to UGC costs BU Rs 50 crore?

BANGALORE: After months of laborious efforts for University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Universities with Potential for Excellence (UPE) grant status, Bangalore University has lost out on the race for Rs 50 crore to University of Mysore and Karnatak University, Dharwad. According to sources, a two-page letter written by Forum Members, Bangalore University, addressed to Prof P N Ghosh, a member of the UGC Committee during his visit to the city for the UPE review, is suspected to have a role behind BU not getting the grant status.The letter, describes the circumstances at BU after Dr N Prabhu Dev took charge as BU Vice-Chancellor. In addition, the letter points out at various instances of financial and administrative controversies, including the Kolar PG Centre fiasco. The letter calls Prabhu Dev a ‘tainted’ person and states that he was framed with charges of corruption when he was the director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology. “Is this University a dumping yard for worthless?” the letter questions. While mentioning the poor infrastructure of classrooms, toilets and canteems, the letter also attacks Prabhu Dev’s manner of conducting Syndicate meetings at his fiefdom.The letter ends with a note to Prof Ghosh. “This memorandum is written to keep you informed of the autocratic way Prabhu Dev handles the University. This should not in any way influence your decision to give or not to give the Universities of Potential of Excellence (UPE) status.”DisappointedBU had prepared a report on Nano Materials for the UPE. “We scored 76 out of a possible 100, while I was ardently expecting 86. Perhaps, our presentation needed more focus on the topic. I think the lack of an expert on Nano Materials in BU showed in our presentation. It feels bad, after all the hard work,” Prabhu Dev told Express.  He said that an amount of Rs 63 crore had been earmarked for various projects. “We had planned a Central Instrumentation Facility (Rs 15 crore), civil infrastructure (Rs 9 crore), improvements in political science department (`crore) and a communication studio (Rs 12 crore),” he said. He added that BU would apply for UPE again next year.