Observing that an ineligible person was holding the post of Comptroller as in-charge for seven years, the High Court of Karnataka directed the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), Karnataka, to carry out a financial audit of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, from the year 2018 to 2025, and take action as per law if any irregularities were found in the audit report.Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order while dismissing a petition filed by Shivaputra M. Honnali, in-charge Comptroller of UAS, Dharwad, who had questioned the State government’s September 6, 2025 order of appointing an officer to the post of Comptroller of the varsity.‘Shocking’“It is rather shocking that the petitioner, who was appointed as an in-charge Comptroller, which could not have been for more than six months at the most, and even if a Comptroller is appointed by following the procedure under Section 31(9)(a) of the UAS Act, 2009, the tenure of the Comptroller being not more than four years, the petitioner is continued to discharge his role as a Comptroller from the year 2018 till now for nearly seven years. The above aspect does not inspire confidence and, in fact, is suspicious,” the court observed.It also pointed out that the petitioner was primarily ineligible to hold the post of Comptroller as he did not belong to the cadre of Joint Comptroller of State Accounts Department or an Officer of the rank of the Deputy Accountant-General of Audit and Accounts Department as prescribed in the UAS Act.Meanwhile, the court noted that the procedure prescribed to appoint Comptroller was not followed in appointing the petitioner to the post as neither a panel of names of eligible persons to hold the post was submitted to the Board of Management (BoM) of the varsity nor the BoM had approved petitioner’s name.‘Active support of V-C’The court also pointed out that the law permitted that any in-charge arrangement to the post of Comptroller could only be extended for a period of six months and not later; and admittedly the petitioner had been discharging the in-charge arrangement from the year 2018 and had been challenging any other appointment made by the State, apparently with the active support of the Vice-Chancellor.“It is not permissible for the Vice-Chancellor to appoint a Comptroller in such a manner as done, the post of the Comptroller being an essential and important post at the university dealing with all financial aspects... I am of the considered opinion that there requires to be an audit, made by the Comptroller and Auditor- General of Karnataka into the affairs of the university from the year 2018 till date to ascertain if there is any financial mismanagement,” observed Justice Govindaraj.Published - October 13, 2025 08:24 pm IST