Mangalore University to suspend four postgraduate courses for 2025–26 over poor admissions
Mangaluru: Mangalore University has decided to discontinue four postgraduate (PG) programmes from the 2025–26 academic year, following a decline in student admissions.
Vice-Chancellor P. L. Dharma said the programmes that will be kept under suspended animation are Electronics, Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ), Statistics, and Human Resource Development (HRD).
“The university had initially decided to discontinue PG programmes temporarily with fewer than 15 students. Later, it was decided to continue admissions even with at least 10 students,” explained Dharma.
Despite this relaxation, several departments failed to attract adequate candidates. “The Department of Statistics did not receive any admissions last year, while the MCJ Department had only one applicant. Administrative notices have now been issued for the temporary suspension of these programmes,” Deccan Herald quoted him as saying.
The HRD course, he added, lacked a permanent faculty member and was being managed by teachers from the Commerce Department and guest lecturers. The Statistics Department has also been functioning without permanent staff since the retirement of senior professors, while the MCJ and Electronics departments each have one permanent faculty member.
Dharma said the MCJ faculty will continue to handle journalism as an open elective paper, while the Electronics Department’s permanent faculty member has been assigned to assist with the Cyber Security programme.
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Unnao rape case: SC sets aside order suspending Sengar's life term, asks HC to decide plea afresh
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Delhi High Court order suspending the life sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case and asked it to decide the plea afresh.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also asked the high court to make endeavours to decide the main plea of Sengar against his conviction and life imprisonment in the case within two months.
It further said that if it was not possible for the high court to decide the main plea expeditiously, then it should pass an order on a plea of Sengar seeking the suspension of the life term in the case before the start of the summer vacation there.
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The bench, which had earlier set aside the HC order granting bail to Sengar after a huge public uproar over the issue, said that it did not express any opinion on the merits of the case and the high court could proceed with it afresh.
The CJI also asked the HC to decide afresh issues like whether an MLA can be treated as a public servant for being prosecuted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Earlier, the top court had deferred to the first week of May the hearing on a petition filed by the CBI challenging the suspension of life imprisonment of the former MLA in the rape case.
On December 29 last year, the top court stayed the Delhi High Court order suspending Sengar's life sentence and said he shall not be released from custody.
In its order dated December 23, 2025, the Delhi High Court had said that Sengar had been convicted under Section 5 (C) (aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a public servant) of the POCSO Act but an elected representative does not fit the definition of a "public servant" under Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.
The high court had suspended the jail term of Sengar, who was serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case, till the pendency of his appeal, saying he had already served seven years and five months in prison.
The high court order has sparked criticism from various sections of society and protests were held by the victim, her family and activists.
