Sanghatane demands judicial probe into alleged irregularities in recruitment at Central University of Karnataka

Alleging violations of reservation norms and irregularities in faculty recruitment at the Central University of Karnataka, leaders of the Karnataka Vidyarthi Sanghatane have demanded a judicial inquiry headed by a sitting judge.

Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi city on Saturday, Sanghatane members Lakshman Mandalgera and Rajendra Rajwal alleged that irregularities had taken place in the recruitment of teaching staff during the tenure of Vice-Chancellor Battu Satyanarayana and called for an immediate investigation.

Mr. Mandalgera stated that according to the post-based reservation policy implemented by the Department of Personnel and Training under the Government of India, every post must be assigned a specific roster number. Universities are also required to publish details of both filled and vacant posts in the reservation roster.

While the 2019 roster list published by the university contained details of both filled and vacant posts, in the 2025 roster list, the University has shown only the filled posts without disclosing the vacancies, he alleged.

Mr. Mandalgera said that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Employees’ Association at the University had earlier approached the High Court, raising concerns over the violation of reservation norms. However, during the 63rd Executive Council meeting, the Vice-Chancellor misled the members, stating that the court had approved the university’s reservation roster, he claimed.

Mr Rajwal alleged that some appointments to the posts of associate professor and professor were made in violation of norms prescribed by the University Grants Commission. According to UGC regulations, candidates must have at least eight years of service as an assistant professor to be eligible for appointment as associate professor.

He cited the appointment of Basavaraj Kubakaddi as associate professor in the Department of Law on December 8, 2022. He had obtained his PhD in 2015. The service rendered thereafter should be considered, Mr. Rajwal said, claiming that Dr. Kubakaddi was appointed before completing the required eight years of service.

Similar concerns were raised over the appointments of several others, including Kota Sai Krishna, who was appointed as Controller of Examinations and later recruited as Associate Professor at the Linguistics Department; S. Lingamurthy (Economic Department); G. Mahendra (Tourism and Hotel Management); Sandeep (Department of Mathematics), and Pramod Kumar (School of Engineering), where UGC eligibility norms were allegedly not followed, they claimed.

The Sanghatane demanded a comprehensive judicial inquiry into the alleged violations of reservation norms and irregularities in faculty recruitment at the Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi.