Bangalore: Bill to Establish Manipal University Introduced in Assembly

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Mar 30: The leading group of educational institutions in coastal Karnataka, the Manipal Education Foundation, has come forward to establish a private university in the State.

A legislative bill, the Manipal University Bill 2012, was introduced in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on the last day of the current budget session of the House by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar on Friday.

The minister, who introduced a record number of legislative bills in the House, explained that the Manipal Education Foundation has come forward to establish the private university in the State.

The establishment of a private university by a well-known organization would certainly help in spreading the quality of education to the needy students, he said.

This would also accelerate the establishment of gross enrolment ratio in the higher education sector which presently stands at 11.5 per cent in the State, according to the statement of objectives in the bill.

The private university focuses on teaching, training and research and development in various fields.

Another similar legislation was in favour of the Arka Educational and Cultural Trust, which has also decided to set up an open university in the State through the Arka University Bill, 2012, and it would focuses on teaching, training and research and development in various fields.

The Karnataka University of Agricultural Sciences and Certain other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was also tabled to amend the University of Agricultural Sciences Act, 2009 and the University of Horticultural Sciences Act, 2009.

The Bill aimed to provide for the establishment of a separate University of Agricultural Sciences and Horticultural Sciences at Shimoga to conduct study and research in the filed of special crops in the malnad area, comprising Hassan, Chickmagalur, Shimoga, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Davanagere districts.

The Karnataka Municipal Corporations and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was also tabled to set up a State Urban Transport Fund to finance initiatives and capacity building in urban transport with budgetary support and amount to be raised through cess on property tax.

Another Bill titled (Same title) the Karnataka Municipal Corporations and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was tabled to replace the ordinance promulgated on March 14, 2012.

One of the conditions laid down by 13th Finance Commission for grant of performance grants to local bodies to entrust the supervision and technical audit of local bodies to Comptroller and Auditory General (CAG). The condition is to be met by the government before the end of March 2012.

Other Bills tabled in the Assembly are: Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2012; Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Science University (Amendment) Bill, 2012; the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2012; and Karnataka State Open University (Amendment) Bill, 2012.
 

Bill for Regulating Seats/Fees in Professional Courses Passed
 
The Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulatory of Admission and Fixation of Fee) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2012, that provided recognition of the consensual agreement proposed to be entered into between the State Government and the private educational institutions regarding seats and fees for professional courses for 2012-13 academic year was passed in the Assembly.

The Bill pointed out that the Government had entered into consensual agreement with managements of unaided private educational institutions regarding admission as well as fee structure for Karnataka students and those belonging to the backward classes for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-11 and 2011-12.

To protect the interests of such students, the Government had proposed a consensual agreement again with professional educational institutions for 2012-13.

To facilitate such an arrangement, it was necessary to keep in abeyance the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act 2006 for the academic years 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Krishna Byre Gowda, Sharan Prakash Patil, A Manju, D K Shivakumar, A B Malakaraddy, and several other Congress members strongly objected to the Bill stating that it would not able to control dominance of private managements in the education.

Manju said that seats in reputed colleges get booked before the conduct examinations while Patil said Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Karnataka (COMED-K) has failed to ensure transparency in the conduct of entrance tests.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister defended the Bill sand said that the objective of the Bill was to ensure affordable and accessible education to poor students.

The Bill envisaged appointment of one-man regulatory committee to oversee the admission of students inprofessional courses.