Validity of CET for unaided colleges still unclear

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) will soon close the application process for Common Entrance Test (CET), 2015, but the validity of the entrance test for admissions to unaided professional colleges is still unclear.

Stalemate continues as the State government is dragging its feet on implementing the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006.

If the State implements the Act, it will not have any share of seats in unaided colleges. The State will have to conduct admissions through CET for seats only in government colleges and unaided colleges will fill seats through Comed-K.

After announcing its decision to implement the Act from 2015-16, the State government set up a committee in February—consisting of the principal secretaries of education and law departments and members from private college managements — to come up with a fee subsidy formula for meritorious students.

The committee, however, is yet to announce its decision. Also, unaided college managements have not agreed to the government’s seat-sharing and fee subsidy proposals.

Managements indicate that both the proposals by the State government will not hold water legally, as the 2006 Act gives complete freedom for colleges to fill their seats and fix their fee which is unique to each college.

According to sources, a seat-sharing formula proposed by the State government was that 42 per cent of seats in an unaided college will be filled through Comed-K, 33 per cent through KEA (government share) and 25 per cent for NRI candidates.

“But the Supreme Court order stipulates that NRI quota seats cannot be more than 15 per cent,” the source added.

An unaided college management member said that the State government had asked them to specially subsidise fee for Karnataka students.

“First, on what basis can the subsidy be offered before deciding the fee structure? Also, while the government has the prerogative to subsidise fees exclusively for Karnataka students for government seats, it would amount to discrimination if private colleges adopted the same. As per the high court directions in this regard, colleges have to charge uniform fee for all students,” the member said.

Meanwhile, the State government-constituted fee regulatory committee — which will give approval for the fee proposed by each individual college — has inspected some of the colleges to verify whether the infrastructure does justice to the proposed fee.

The committee is yet to inform colleges on its decision.