Panel recommends 8% hike in medical, engg, dental fees

The fee regulatory committee appointed by the state to look into the fee fixation of professional colleges has recommended a 8% annual fee hike.

Medical, dental and engineering colleges in the state have been permitted to hike their fee by 8%, higher than the previous year for the academic year 2018-19. This is much lower than a 30% hike that the professional colleges had sought, citing a need to better the infrastructure and facilities.

In its report, the committee said that they studied the fee fixed under consensual agreement for the past three years and are of the opinion that the fee fixed under last year’s consensual agreement was the best yardstick.

Justice D V Shylendra Kumar, chairperson of the committee, said that the government had entered into a consensual agreement with colleges for medical courses, assuring a 10% fee hike. “They will have to go by the recommendations of the committee and cap it at 8% only. The difference must be refunded, if collected,” he said.

Statement of accounts

Three medical, six dental and a few other engineering colleges remained absent or non-responsive to the notice issued by the fee fixation committee, which had sought statement of accounts of the last three years. In such colleges, the fee has been capped at the lowest of the fee fixed for a particular course among colleges.

This year, engineering colleges have quota fee as low as Rs 60,000 and as high as 3.1 lakh, for courses they offer.

The committee observed that the government, despite having the powers to fix a minimum fee under the Karnataka Professional and Educational Institutions Act (Regulation of admission and determination of fee), 2006, did not do so.

The committee has recommended that NRI students be charged 10 times the fee fixed for domestic students. The committee has instructed institutions to maintain a separate account of the difference of fee collected and utilise this to provide concessions to students from the SC/ST communities and backward classes.