KU Deans deny irregularities in PhD admissions

Warangal: The deans of various departments in the Kakatiya University (KU) on Tuesday rallied around the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Thatikonda Ramesh who has been facing a tempest of a situation with regard to the allegations of irregularities in the admissions of the PhD. In a joint statement, the deans vehemently denied any scope of irregularities in the admissions of the PhD. Further they gave an account of the reasons that were tarnishing the image of the varsity.

There was a mad rush for the PhD course as there were no admissions for the last five years due to various reasons. In a bid to increase the number of seats in the PhD, the V-C did his best by consenting retired professors and eligible faculty from government degree colleges as supervisors.

Initially the meritorious students who received prestigious National fellowships like CSIR, UGC (NET, Minority, SC, ST, OBC and differently-abled), ICHR, DST, DBT etc were admitted under the category-I, in June 2022. The trouble started when the authorities took up the PhD admission process under category-II. After the entrance was conducted the key was also made public by placing it on the KU website, further the corrections and suggestions were sought. Suggestions received were discussed by the subject experts and the final key was prepared. Free access to the OMR sheet was also made available to the candidates.

The Vice Chancellor stressed that merit, rule of reservation and transparency should be the basis of interviews by the selection committee in several meetings held with the Deans, Chairpersons B.O.S., senior supervisors concerned . In order to make it transparent the entire process of interviews was videographed, which is first of its kind in the history of University, this was appreciated by the University by all the concerned.

The selection committees were constituted by the experienced faculty, including the composition of the selection committee such as representatives of SC, ST, BC, women and differently abled in order to ensure social justice and inclusion. Further subject experts were drawn from prestigious national institutions and different Universities also. Still if candidates have any apprehensions, they are informed to represent the concerned Deans and get the clarifications.

The deans said that some of the students who wanted them to project as leaders before the ensuing elections to the Assembly have been creating ruckus on the campus. They not only threatened the authorities, but also destroyed the property of the University, the deans said. It was unfortunate that there were retired professors, part time teachers, non- teaching employees and even a few executive council members behind the unrest on the campus, the deans said. The statement was issued by deans Prof. Banna Ailaiah, Prof. Y Narasimha Reddy, Prof. P Malla Reddy, Prof. P Amaraveni, Prof. Vijayalaxmi, Prof. T Srinivasulu, Prof. S Ramanatha Kishan and Prof. T Manohar.