Karnataka cabinet approves bill to grant university status to six institutes: Report

NEW DELHI: Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has agreed to approve the bill to grant the university status to six institutions during a meeting at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Monday, the Indian Express reported.

The six private universities are T John University, Karnataka State Vokkaligara Sangha University, Sapthagiri University, Acharya University from Bengaluru, G M University, Davanagere, and Kishkinda University, Ballari. Of the six universities, four are from Bengaluru and one from Davengere and Ballari.

The Bill is yet to be tabled in the Karnataka Assembly session. Once the bill is passed, the total number of private universities in the state will be 30.

In November, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed a Bill amending the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 to pave way for the constitution of eight new universities, including Kodagu University, which would be bifurcated from the jurisdiction of Mangalore University.

With the setting up of a new university in Kodagu, the Mangalore University is likely to lose 24 undergraduate colleges. Besides Kodagu, the other universities proposed by the government in the Bill are to be set up at Koppal, Mandya, Bagalkot, Chamarajanagar, Bidar, Haveri and Hassan.

In another development, the Karnataka Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a Bill to increase the quota for the Scheduled Castes from 15% to 17% and for Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7% in government educational institutions.