KSOU V-C distances varsity from ‘private event’ on Deendayal Upadhyaya

A day after facing criticism from Higher Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar over hosting the three-day conference on Hindutva ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, Sharanappa V. Halase, Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), has distanced the university from the event scheduled to be held on its campus on Wednesday.

While the Minister announced in the House on Monday that the programme will be put off, it is set to be held on March 25 at the same venue with about 500 delegates expected.

Speaking to The Hindu in Mysuru on Tuesday, Prof. Sharanappa V. Halase claimed the ‘Ekatma Manav Darshan – Bharat’s Worldview’ was a “private programme” and the KSOU had merely rented its convocation hall to the organisers for the event.

The organisers had invited him to the conference “out of courtesy”, he said. When asked if he was attending the programme, Prof. Halase said Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, who is also the Chancellor of the University, too had been invited for the programme and protocol demands that he receive the Governor.

The ‘Ekatma Manav Darshan – Bharat’s Worldview’, commemorating 60 years of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya’s lectures, organised by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation and Prajna Pravah on the KSOU campus, have sparked a row with the State government opposing the event citing protocol violation and issuing a show cause notice to Prof. Halase.

Responding to the show-cause notice, Prof. Halase sought to clarify to the Principal Secretary to the Government’s Higher Education Department that the conference was not an official programme of the KSOU. “The role of the university is limited solely to providing the venue on rental basis,” he said.

KSOU possesses one of the most modern and spacious auditoriums in the region with a large seating capacity, and the university, which is a self-financing institution, permits the use of this facility on a rental basis for conferences, seminars, symposiums, and other academic activities for “revenue generation and optimal utilization of resources”, he said.

“The entire event has been independently organised by the said institution, and the prescribed rental charges have been duly paid to the university,” Prof. Halase said in his response..

Though the University had no role in selecting or inviting guests, Prof. Halase said the university had encouraged students to participate in the conference for their academic enrichment. 

Logo row

The controversy has centred on the use of the university’s emblem on communication sent by the organisers to the Department of Collegiate Education, inviting participation from faculty — an issue flagged by the Minister as a protocol violation.

Responding to this, Prof. Halase said the logo on the invitation was used only to facilitate the participation of KSOU’s PhD scholars, students, and faculty. “It is customary for external organisers using the university’s facilities to extend invitations to our academic community, and occasionally invite the Vice-Chancellor as chief guest,” he added.

500 delegates

Organisers said around 500 delegates from across the country are expected to participate in the three-day conference. “We have paid the rent and delegates have already begun arriving,” a representative said.