St Joseph’s College has refuted allegations made by the Karnataka State Greater Schooling Council (KSHEC) that it violated state norms by launching new tutorial programmes and admitting extra college students with out authorities approval.
The college, in its official response, termed the objections “a misreading of UGC norms and state-issued pointers” and mentioned that it will think about elevating the matter with the state authorities.
On June 24, the Karnataka Greater Schooling Division introduced a penalty of Rs 4 lakh on the college based mostly on KSHEC’s inspection report which discovered that St Joseph’s had launched over 20 new undergraduate programmes and admitted greater than 500 further college students through the 2023–24 and 2024–25 tutorial years.
The report additionally mentioned that the establishment didn’t share 60 per cent of its seats with the state, as mandated for personal universities.
In an in depth response, Prof Dr Melwin Colaco, Registrar of St Joseph’s College, mentioned the modifications have been made in good religion, based mostly on the Nationwide Schooling Coverage (NEP) pointers issued by the state.
“It’s our understanding that the council’s objections are based mostly on a wrongful studying of UGC norms and the precise instructions issued now and again,” he mentioned.
Tracing the developments again to 2021, Prof Colaco defined that when the establishment was nonetheless St Joseph’s Faculty (Autonomous), affiliated to Bangalore Metropolis College, it had restructured tutorial choices in response to the NEP.
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“Three main programmes have been reconfigured into two main mixtures, thereby growing the variety of programmes supplied, although the general pupil consumption remained the identical,” he clarified.
To increase entry, significantly for college kids from marginalised communities, the establishment launched a 3rd tutorial shift (Shift-III), incorporating programs from the erstwhile St Joseph’s Night Faculty.
“A decision to this impact was handed through the Tutorial Council assembly in 2021,” Prof Colaco mentioned, including that the federal government was stored knowledgeable. “We had sought formal approval from the Authorities of Karnataka and Bangalore Metropolis College, however there was no response. As per the round dated August 26, 2021, autonomous schools have been permitted to introduce new programmes so long as the federal government was duly knowledgeable.”
In July 2022, when the establishment grew to become a college, it continued providing the modified programmes, assuming continuity below NEP reforms.
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Approvals have been sought for added PG and PhD programmes from the KSHEC, which have been later permitted by an skilled committee in 2023.
Nevertheless, throughout a 2025 inspection, a KSHEC member raised objections to the expanded course record and Shift-III, calling it inconsistent with UGC guidelines.
“We defined that the shift system was launched to optimise underutilised infrastructure. These issues have been however recorded as violations,” Prof Colaco mentioned.