Now Bangalore University, BCU fight over Central College ground

BENGALURU: The ongoing spat between Bangalore University (BU) and Bengaluru Central University (BCU) over control of varsity properties took a turn for the worse on Thursday. BU staff allegedly misbehaved with workers sent by BCU to clear an overgrowth of weeds at the Central College ground, resulting in the ground being temporarily declared out-of-bounds for students.
Thursday’s incident is the latest in a long list of flare-ups between BU and BCU over ownership of property on the Central College campus following the trifurcation of BU. In July this year, BU officials accused BCU staff of breaking and entering a room where answer scripts were kept. BCU officials admitted they had broken the lock, but said they thought the room was a disused one and had planned to renovate it. Last week, the two varsities fought over control of the historic library.
The bad blood appeared to continue on Thursday when, on spotting the BCU workers entering the Central College ground, BU staff confronted them. A heated argument ensued. The ground was eventually declared out-of-bounds by BCU officials.
“We did not do it intentionally,” said Ramchandra Gowda, registrar, BCU. “BU staff misbehaved with the workers we had sent. We have written some 100 letters to the higher education department and the administration of Bangalore University demanding they handover the ground to us, but they are unwilling. Our work is being affected because of this.”
With the ground being declared out-of-bounds, students were under the impression that the physical education department had also been locked up.
Despite the Central College ground being available, BCU recently held its two-day inter-college athletic meet at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium.
“Central College ground could easily have accommodated the teams from our 80 colleges, but we were forced to hold the meet at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium because of BU’s adamancy.” Gowda said. “They are not letting us enter or hold any function at the Central College ground.”
BU officials were not available for comment.