Kalpataru Vidya Samsthe is one of the premier educational trusts doing yeoman service to the rural people with its various educational institutions. It was established in 1961.
Being geographically secluded from bigger cities, and having no civic amenities during the early 1960’s, Tiptur was deprived of institutions for higher education. Students aspiring to pursue tertiary education, had to inevitably leave the town and explore Mysore or Bangalore, which was fiscally not a viable proposition to the local poor. Their ambition would have continued to remain a distant dream, but for some extraordinary visionaries.
Though the conception of founding an educational institution in Tiptur was fostered by philanthropists from various sections of the society, two names that stand out distinctly, head and shoulders above the rest are, Sri A.C. Pallagatti and J.R. Mahalingaiah.
Sri A.C. Pallagatti, a generous benefactor, donated a huge sum of seed money to build Kalpataru College under the organization Kalpataru Vidya Samsthe. Kalpataru college came into existence in the year 1961, spearheaded by the founder Principal Prof. J R Mahalingaiah, whose dedication and vision paved the way for the much needed Pre-University and degree college, with the standards at par with city colleges. Within a very short span of time, the reputation of the college grew in leaps and bounds.