JOIN USAt the meeting attended by representatives of the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA), the chief minister improved upon the state government’s earlier offer, and suggested a fee of Rs 35,000 for all engineering colleges.
With this, the CM extended the earlier offer of fee of Rs 35,000 for Bangalore colleges to non-Bangalore ones.
At an earlier meeting, the state government had decided to make a distinction between Bangalore colleges and non-Bangalore ones: the former were offered a fee structure of Rs 35,000 , while the latter were offered Rs 32,500. However, the government decided to drop the distinction and made a uniform offer of Rs 35,000 for all colleges.
Publicly, representatives of college managements declined to State whether they would accept the offer or not. PES Group of Institutions Director D Jawahar, who attended the meeting, said that they would take the offer from the state government and present it before the Association which would take a decision at a meeting on May 31.
However, a majority of colleges are unlikely to accept the Chief Minister’s offer and want the implementation of the Fee fixation committee’s report.
They have cited the Rs 35,000 fee as being too low to meet their expenditure, especially after the implementation of the sixth pay commission recommendations.
“With CET being the primary source of students for most colleges, and students from outside the State looking to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, it does not make economic sense to subsidise them any further,” the official added.
As per Supreme Court judgements, private colleges are at a liberty to admit students based on an entrance test, while fee has to be fixed by a regulatory committee. However, a consensual agreement between the government and private colleges can override this.
As a result, since 2006, admissions to engineering and medical colleges have been made on the basis of consensual agreements.
The Padmaraj committee has already studied the account books of all colleges and submitted its recommendation in a sealed cover to the State government.
Private colleges have filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding that the contents of the Padmaraj committee report be revealed.
Govt to reimburse Rs 10,000 per student
The State Cabinet has decided to reimburse Rs 10,000 per student to unaided engineering and architecture colleges where poor meritorious students were admitted for undergraduate courses during 2010-11. A total of 2,988 students will benefit by the scheme.
The cabinet in its meeting held on Thursday in Bangalore gave its nod for amending certain sections of Visvesvaraya Technological University VTU Act 1994, to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the VCs and faculty who are accused of violation of rules.
The amendment seeks to invoke penalty provisions under Karnataka State Universities Act 2000 against the VCs and faculty of VTU.