Pvt colleges refuse to sign fee, seat-sharing pact

The imbroglio over admission to professional colleges resurfaced on Tuesday, with the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) deciding against signing a consensual agreement with the State government on fee structure and seat sharing unless course fee was increased.

The development came four days after a meeting with the chief minister, where representatives of private college managements promised to proceed with the agreement signed for 2013-14. The managements, at a meeting here on Tuesday,

however, decided against signing the agreement in the existing format.

“The members unanimously decided not to sign the agreement with the government if they did not get permission to hike the fee. Only KUPECA chairman D Hemachandra Sagar was in favour of signing the agreement. Rest of us wanted a fee hike,” KUPECA secretary Panduranga Setty told Deccan Herald.

The KUPECA will send a representation to the government again, seeking the fee hike. The colleges have been insisting on a fee hike, with the government resisting any such move.

Following a three-hour meeting of the association on Tuesday, Sagar quit his post after failing to convince the college managements. “It was one man against the rest,” said Setty.

State government officials were in for a surprise. “I have not yet heard anything from the association. We had scheduled a meeting tomorrow with the managements. They had earlier agreed to sign the agreement. We have to find out the reason for this U-turn,” said Rajneesh Goel, principal secretary, Higher Education.

Minister for Medical Education Sharan Prakash R Patil, who was present at Friday’s meeting, also expressed disbelief. “The government is clear that it does not want to increase the fee. Since the association members agreed to sign the agreement in a meeting with the chief minister, we will have to consult him now,” he said.

Confirming the developments, Sagar said: “I quit the post as I wanted to retain my honour. I tried to convince all members to sign the agreement. In my mind, the most important stakeholders are parents and students. You cannot arbitrarily increase the fee without consulting them or informing them at least six months in advance. We have to look at poor students as well. Since the government promised to implement the 2006 Act next year, I thought we should comply with it this year and then consult parents and students before proposing a hike.”