May 30: The Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), which has been running IIITs in Basar, Nuzvid and Idupulapaya for the last three years, is in an administrative mess even though it is generously funded by the state government.
This is the only university in the state where none of the top officials function from the university headquarters located in Idupulapaya, Kadapa. While the chancellor, Prof. Raj Reddy, shuttles between the US and India once a month, the vice-chancellor, Prof. R.V. Raja Kumar, and registrar, Prof S. Satyanarayana, work out of Hyderabad.
Administration has gone for a toss in the IIITs with no monitoring of their activities from higher authorities. The minister for higher education, Mr Damodar Rajanarasimha, and other senior officials of the department are reportedly upset with the functioning of RGUKT. It is notable that the funds being allotted to RGUKT every year are more than what the government allots to all the state universities put together. The admissions policy is in a shambles even though the procedure was changed twice after angry protests from students and the courts. Though the AP High Court last October struck down its admission policy of taking the mandal as the unit for admitting students, RGUKT has not put a new policy in place. Thus, the university is not in a position to issue an admission notification this year, though SSC results have already been announced, nor can it say when such a notification will be issued.
As if this was not enough, RGUKT’s recruitment policy does not follow due reservations, which led to a tussle between the university and the department of higher education.
Source : DC