Dejected candidate returns PhD, MPhil degrees to KU

DHARWAD: With the UGC making PhD mandatory for college lecturers aspiring for UGC pay scale, there is a mad craving for PhD degree in the universities. Lecturers who do not have a doctorate degree are desperately trying to catch hold of a guide and register for the degree. While this is the situation in the academic circle, an academician has sprung a surprise by returning his PhD degree to Karnatak University (KU).
Ambappa Dhavalar of Bijapur, who holds a doctorate in history and archaeology, did the unexpected on Tuesday. He also surrendered his MPhil and PhD degrees. The reason: Ambappa is disillusioned with the way the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruits candidates for the post of lecturers in government first-grade colleges.
Ambappa, in spite of having a PhD degree, is now working as a conductor with North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation. He has appeared for an interview for the post of lecturer in 2008 under Category 1, but could not get selected. He "alleges" that he was overlooked while four other candidates, who claimed to be under Category 1, were selected after producing fake caste certificates. He also claimed that one candidate, who had crossed the upper age limit, had been selected by the KPSC. "I was ignored though I have the requisite qualification," he rued.
Frustrated with KPSC's mode of selection, he decided to return the degrees to the university. His degree certificates are with M P Kamble, head of the department of history and archaeology. Ambappa has threatened to burn his PhD thesis in front of chief minister's residence and Raj Bhavan in Bangalore.
This is not the first time that a candidate frustrated with the "alleged" injustice returning his degree as mark of protest. In the early '80s, one Gopal Tadas from the P-G department of economics in KU had returned the gold medal (secured in MA exam) in the presence of the then governor Govind Narain during the convocation. Tadas had declared that he was returning the medal to protest "injustice in evaluation of answer sheets". He claimed that an "undeserving student" had been given a gold medal meant for another paper of MA economics. He had appealed to the then Vice-Chancellor D M Nanjundappa to conduct a detailed probe into his charges.
The V-C probed the matter and found that the allegations were true and had initiated disciplinary action against the professor concerned. He had also blacklisted several teachers of the department and barred them from handling examination work.