Bengaluru: Karnataka govt reportedly sought Rs 250 crore from Visvesvaraya Technological University, after the institution got back Rs 700 crore from income tax department.VTU recently recovered more than Rs 700 crore of its corpus fund that had been seized over “tax dues”. The university’s accounts were frozen in 2012-13 after I-T department raised a demand of Rs 250 crore, claiming VTU hadn’t secured exemption under Section 12(A) of Income Tax Act, which allows certain institutions and non-governmental organisations to claim full exemption from income tax.When the accounts were seized, VTU had about Rs 450 crore accumulated as corpus, built up through examination fees, those collected from affiliated colleges and annual reimbursements from Karnataka Examinations Authority. Along with another Rs 250 crore belonging to the university, it had more than Rs 700 crore.The govt is learnt to have sought Rs 250 crore from this fund. “The issue was discussed at the executive council meeting and govt letter was read out. The council decided not to part with the money. It belongs to students, who took admission in affiliated colleges. It should be used for their benefit; govt has no right to it,” said a source.However, vice-chancellor S Vidyashankar said he hasn’t received any such letter. “There has been a discussion in the cabinet whether it is possible to seek funds from VTU. If we receive any letter from govt, we will discuss at the executive council and take a decision,” said the VC.Last year, govt sought funds from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences — Rs 600 crore from its Rs 1,400-crore corpus.
