Ramdas casts violation slur on KSOU

BANGALORE: Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas on Tuesday charged the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysore, with functioning beyond its statutory jurisdiction and offering paramedical and nursing courses without the approval of statute bodies of the state government.He said here on Tuesday that the KSOU is indulging in serious violations by offering even professional technical courses without sanction from the Distance Education Council, New Delhi.The varsity has also issued advertisements in various dailies containing details of its technical programmes through distance education, he said.He said that the DEC, which is the governing body of open universities in the country, has taken note of the lapses and had issued show cause notices, in addition to  threatening to withdraw recognition accorded to it. The minister also charged the university with unilaterally resolving to introduce five statutes, including those for academic collaboration  and recruitment, and adopting it without sanction of the state government.Vowing action against officials involved, the minister said that he would bring the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda. “I will also not hesitate to order registering of a criminal complaint against the officials of the KSOU for their illegal actions,” Ramdas added.Expressing apprehension at the KSOU losing its recognition from the DEC for its violations, the minister said: “This has also cast a shadow on the future of over one lakh students who have registered with the university for various courses. “In such a situation, it must be the government which will have to answer for the lapses of the KSOU,” the minister said.