Maharaja's institution misses the UGC bus

It's one the earliest colleges in the state, but Maharaja's College, housed in a century-old building, did not even apply to the UGC for heritage status.This shows the present state of the college, where the University of Mysore was born in 1916. “I came to know (about the scheme) recently and I really felt bad. If we had applied we would have got more than Rs 5 crore which could have been used for getting more books for the library , getting electronic gadgets, improving the classrooms, undertaking various electrical works and providing other facilities,“ Nagaraj Murthy, principal of the college, said adding that he would immediately apply for the scheme.
The college has its roots in Rajah's Free School was started in 1833 by Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. In 1879, the college was upgraded and affiliated to the University of Madras and later upgraded to first grade college in 1894. In 1889, Prince of Wales Albert Victor laid the foundation stone of the present building, which was constructed at a cost of Rs 9.41 lakh.
The college got affiliated to Uni versity of Mysore in 1916. To start with UOM started functioning from the college campus and the VC's office remained here till 1947.The college had teachers such as JC Rollo, Albert Mackintosh, Kuvempu, Shama Rao, K Hanumantha Rao and former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. In 1918, Rabindranath Tagore visited Maharaja's college.
Referring to the college not applying to UGC for heritage status, C Basavaraju, registrar, University of Mysore, said they would soon apply for the scheme so that the college and students can benefit from it.