Govt. takes action for Maharani Cluster University’s opt-in statutes after five years
After five years of its inception, the State government has taken action for the ‘opt-in and opt-out’ statutes of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Maharani Cluster University in Bengaluru.
The Governor and Chancellor of the university have approved the regulations made by Maharani Cluster University for adoption, namely, “Statutes governing absorption of opted in teaching and non-teaching staff of erstwhile Maharani Science College for Women, Maharani Arts Commerce and Management College for Women, and Smt V.H.D Central Institute of Home Science College, into Maharani Cluster University, Bengaluru, 2024,” under Section 41(7) of Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000, on September 10, 2025.
The university, which has issued an official notification on September 17, 2025, has given a deadline of October 3, 2025 for the ‘opt-in and opt-out’ option exercise.
The State government formed the ‘Maharani Cluster University’ in 2019 by merging Maharani Science College for Women, Maharani Arts, Commerce and Management College for Women and Smt V.H.D Central Institute of Home Science College, which were located in the heart of the city and under the jurisdiction of the Department of Collegiate Education.
At present, a total of 142 teaching staff and 10 non-teaching staff are working in this university, all of whom are officially receiving salaries, allowances, and other benefits from the Department of Collegiate Education.
To ensure the smooth functioning of the university, the government had taken up the process of granting statutes from 2021 itself. However, the statutes were delayed due to the disapproval of the Finance Department and the denial of approval by the Governor’s Office.
Obstruction to the University’s work
There have been allegations that since the university was not made a statutory institution, the teaching faculties who were working under the Collegiate Education Department were not discharging their duties properly and were hindering the development of the university.
“All the staff in our university are currently under the purview of Collegiate Education Department. The teaching faculties appointed in the year 1996-97 have been settled in our university for many years without any transfer. However, when the department started the transfer process of the staff, more than a hundred teachers approached the court in the last three years and sought a stay from the court to stop the transfer process, saying that they were university staff and that they were not eligible for transfer,” said an official of the Higher Education Department.
The official added, “Due to this, there was no transfer for the eligible ones in the Collegiate Education Department. If they were told to follow the rules and regulations of the department, they would evade being university faculties. They were hindering the development of the university by not responding to any work, including Learning Management System training.”
Court order
Meanwhile, 64 teaching staff ‘opted-in’ to work with the university in 2022, and the government had also issued an official order in this regard.
However, many of the opt-in faculties changed their minds and decided to remain with the College Education Department and approached the High Court. The court agreed and directed the government to allow opt-in and opt-out process again, recently.
In this context, the government, which had granted permission to the university’s statute on September 15, 2025, had asked it to complete the opt-in and opt-out processes soon.
Speaking to The HinduManjunatha. T.M., Vice-Chancellor (Acting), Maharani Cluster University, said, “The development and academic activities of the university were hampered due to non-conduct of ‘opt-in’ processes. The government has now given permission and issued a notification to conduct opt-in and opt-out processes for the staff, giving a deadline of 15 days. Some are asking for 30 to 40 days for the option exercise. However, there is no question of postponing the opt-in date in view of the development of the university. Those who are interested can opt-in to our university within the stipulated deadline.”
Published – September 21, 2025 07:50 pm is
