Tuesday, June 11, 2013

DECCAN HERALD 5

State
KPSC selection list withheld
BANGALORE, DHNS: The list of 392 officers of Group A and Group B category appointed by Karnataka Public Service Commission has been temporarily withheld by the State government in view of the complaints about irregularities in the appointment process. Informing this in the Assembly on Monday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said an inquiry would be conducted by an investigative agency and appropriate action would be taken later to maintain the dignity of the institution. He also said a committee would be formed in a weeks time and an inquiry report was expected in two weeks time after a thorough investigation. The government will take strict action if allegations are proved, he added. Siddaramaiah also said the State was looking at recruitment procedures followed by the Union Public Service Commission and would consider adopting the same methods. DH News Service BANGALORE: Medical Education Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil on Monday said that his department would initiate action against eight linguistic minority medical colleges in the State for violating a number of rules.

Woman washed away in Mlore. P7

8 linguistic minority colleges face action for violating norms

before giving them the minority status. We are going to initiate action against them, he said. In total, there are 13 minority colleges in the State, including five religious minority colleges. The issue was raised by JD(S) MLCs Basavaraj Horatti and M C Nanaiah, BJP MLC Y A Narayanaswamy, with regard to the Sapthagiri medical college, which has got recognition as a Kodava language minority college. According to the Opposition MLCs, the college has only one Kodava community member and the rest are members speaking other languages. Patil said three members of the five-member management committee had got certificates from the concerned tahsildar as belonging to the Kodava Gowda community. Questioning the certificate issued by the tahsildar, Nanaiah - who is from the Kodava community - said that he had never heard of such a community. He appealed to the minister to initiate action even against the tahsildar. SC/ST students On the engineering colleges front, Minister for Higher Education R V Desphande, said that the government was clearing the backlog of Rs 30 crore which has to be paid to professional colleges as part of the various schemes under which SC/ST students have been admitted. We will clear the backlog of Rs 30 crore and also inquire into cases of colleges which have allegedly collected fees from the SC/ST students, despite directives not to collect fees from them, he said. The government on Monday said that it was forced to bring before the legislature the consensual agreement Bill for 2013, for approval, keeping the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, in abeyance. The Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2013, gives recognition to the consensual agreement or arrangement ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| proposed to be entered into beMCI hurdle to increase seats tween the State government The MCI has created hurdles for the State government in inand private unaided educacreasing the number of undergraduate medical seats in govtional institutions imparting ernment colleges. In March, the MCI had assessed the professional courses. Raichur, Bidar, Mysore, Hubli and Bangalore government Admitting that the consenmedical colleges and did not give a favourable assessment sual agreement was not in the report for increasing the number of seats. As a result, the best interest of the State and proposal to increase the seats from 1,250 to 1,650 seats has the students, hinting at an adbeen stalled. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Minister for Medvantage for the private profesical Education, Dr Sharanprakash Patil, said: The Principal sional colleges offering medSecretary and Director of Medical Education are camping in ical, dental and engineering Delhi to get approval for an increase of 400 seats. We are courses, Patil said: I am not hopeful that the issue will be resolved before the end of the for the agreement, but I do not counselling session. have a choice. The previous On Monday, the Director of Medical Education and the Prinregimes have entered into cipal Secretary of Medical Education left for Delhi to conagreements, time and again, vince the MCI to approve their proposal. The State governwith the private managements ment is now banking on the MCI board meeting scheduled and it shall continue. There is on June 17 for the approval of the increase in seats. no time, this year, to implement the 2006 Act.
DH News Service
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Patil told the Legislative Council that it had come to his notice that certain linguistic minority colleges were not fulfilling the conditions laid down by the State in enrolling students, thereby violating their minority recognition status. It has come to my notice that as per the Venkataramaiah report, eight linguistic minority colleges in the State have violated norms laid down

State may adopt UPSC model of keeping written test marks secret
BANGALORE: The State government will explore the possibility of replicating the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) system of keeping the marks scored by candidates in written examinations confidential till the completion of the interview stage, in the recruitments by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).

Unhealthy

T B Jayachandra

Jayachandra to meet Pawar on vet college row

BANGALORE: Animal Hus-

bandry Minister T B Jayachandra on Monday informed the Legislative Assembly that he would meet Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on Tuesday to find a solution to the admission imbroglio in the government-run veterinary colleges in Hassan and Shimoga, after the Veterinary Council of India (VCI) cancelled recognition of the two colleges citing poor infrastructure facilities. Replying to the issue raised by Leader of the Opposition H D Kumaraswamy, Jayachandra said he would also seek relief for 71 students who had passed out of the two veterinary colleges, but have been left in the lurch as their degrees have now been derecognised. The move has come as a bolt from the blue for the students as they were on the verge of getting recruited for the 381 posts of veterinary doctors. Jayachandra pointed out that Rs 85 crore had been spent for infrastructure facilities in the two colleges. The government would try to convince the VCI that all facilities would be provided and the government should be allowed to continue admission process in the two colleges for the current academic year, Jayachandra said.
DH News Service

Replying to a discussion in the Legislative Assembly on Monday on complaints of corruption in the recruitment to Gazetted Probationers Group A and B posts by the KPSC, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah admitted that the announcement of the written examination marks ahead of the interview gives ample room for manipulation by the panel members who conduct the interviews. There is a need to streamline the selection process. We will consider whether the UPSC model of not disclosing the marks in written exams till the completion of the interview process can be replicated here, Siddaramaiah said and

reiterated that he will soon order an inquiry by an appropriate agency into the complaints of corruption in the KPSC. Till then, all the 362 appointments made for gazetted group A and B will be kept in abeyance, he said. As per the present rules, of the 2,000 marks for KAS exams, 1,800 is for written test and the remaining 200 marks are awarded by KPSC members after interviewing the candidate. There have been allegations that candidates who had scored high marks in the written exams had been awarded low marks in the interview, while candidates who had fared poorly in the written exams had been allotted marks as high as 150 in the interview. Siddaramaiah said the probe agency will be asked to submit its report within three weeks following which the state government will decide on the next action. The complaint by HPS Mythri, the topper in the ST category in the Karnataka Administrative Services (KAS) examination for 2012 that she was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 75 lakh by a KPSC member if

she wanted the post of assistant commissioner would also be probed, Siddaramaiah said. In case the allegations are proved true, we will take appropriate action, he said. Political requests Leader of the Opposition H D Kumaraswamy said KPSC members sometimes succumb to political requests while interviewing candidates, but that does not necessarily mean all are corrupt. He also observed that the media report on the alleged corruption in KPSC was tarnishing the image of the recruiting body, which enjoyed constitutional status. I wonder whether the media has sufficient material to substantiate what it is putting out, Kumaraswamy said and wondered whether there should be a law to prevent the media from publishing reports based on just hearsay. He also pointed out there have been media reports about a candidate making it to the post of a gazetted officer without writing the KPSC scam. If this is true; the officer should be immediately arrested, he said.
DH News Service

Barefooted tiny tots attending the State-run anganwadi centre at Srimatha Manikeshwari Colony in Gulbarga walk amidst garbage and pigs. DH PHOTO

Shettar hopes Advani will reconsider his move

BANGALORE: BJP Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday hoped that senior leader L K Advani, who resigned from the top party posts, would reconsider his decision. When reporters sought Shettars reaction at the Vidhana Soudha, he said Advani should not have resigned from the BJP Parliamentary board. I hope he will reconsider his decision. Our national leaders are trying to convince him. I hope that they will be successful, he added. State BJP president Pralhad Joshi remained incommunicado.

B S Yeddyurappa, former chief minister and KJP president, said: I feel that he has taken a hasty decision. He should not have done this. But this is BJPs internal matter. MLC Lehar Singh Siroya, who has been suspended from the BJP, said it is unfortunate that Advani has no ideological, but personal agenda. Till yesterday, he wanted Nitin Gadkari to become the chairperson of the campaign committee. A day after, he has said the party has deviated from ideology, he remarked. Singh was suspended from the BJP for writing to Advani

posing him some uncomfortable questions regarding his (Advanis) stand on Yeddyurappa when he was the chief minister. Singh had pointed out that Advani should not have made sarcastic remarks in his blog that he would have been surprised if the BJP had won the State Assembly polls. The close associate of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders in Delhi, Singh had reportedly sought an appointment with Advani to seek replies to his questions.
DH News Service

Rs 38 crore released for sinking new borewells

BANGALORE, DHNS: The government has sanctioned Rs 38 crore for sinking new borewells to mitigate the drinking water scarcity in the wake of drought situation in several parts of the State, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil informed the Legislative Assembly on Monday. Replying to an issue raised by Leader of the Opposition H D Kumaraswamy, Patil said instructions had also been issued to deputy commissioners to relax norms on a case-by-case basis to utilise Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) grants for sinking

borewells. He said there was no dearth of funds for providing drinking water. All deputy commissioners had been instructed to treat drinking water issues on a priority basis, he said. Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad said deputy commissioners would be held responsible if they fail to respond to the drinking water woes. Cooperation Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad said the government will soon release Rs 200 crore to meet the requirements for crop waiver scheme announced by the previous government.

Assembly nod for bill restoring police transfer powers to govt

BANGALORE: The Legislative Assembly on Monday approved the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which seeks to restore the power of transferring and promoting senior police officers back to the State government. Besides, the bill seeks to reconstitute the Police Establishment Board (PEB). The Board, if the bill becomes an Act, will have the DG&IGP as chairman and three senior police officers not below the rank of ADGP as members. Currently, the Act says the three senior-most officers shall be the members. This will provide choice to the government to pick any officer of the ADGP rank as Board members. The bill, which was piloted by Home Minister K J George, also seeks to completely withdraw the Board's powers to make recommendations to the government in posting and transfering officers above the rank of Additional Superinten-

dent of Police. Besides, the government can modify any decision of the Board after citing a valid reason. Currently, the government is empowered to modify the Board's decisions only in exceptional cases. The bill also seeks to empower the government to transfer officers of and above ASP rank within one year of posting for misconduct or negligence or an act of moral turpitude in the opinion of the government.

Political interference The BJP and the JD(S) opposed the bill saying that it will lead to political interference in transfer and posting of police officers. Former Home Minister R Ashoka (BJP) said the proposed amendment was in violation of the Supreme Court direction on bringing in reforms in the police department by ending political interference. The amendment bill defeats the very purpose of estab- DH News Service

lishing the Board. It will restore all powers of transferring and posting officers to the government. It is against the apex court order, and it is unlikely to stand legal scrutiny, if challenged, he warned. Y S V Datta of the JD(S) said the government will have powers to appoint any ADGP rank officer of its choice as members of the Board. There is every likelihood of misusing the proposed amendments, he added. George, however, defended the bill saying it will enable the government to post honest officers. The government is accountable to people and the House. The Board is not. How can the government have control over the system if all transfers are done by the Board?, he asked. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the bill does not violate the apex court direction. The bill is yet to be passed in the Legislative Council.