Nod to amend Act on professional college admission

The State Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to amend the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006 which makes provision to incorporate the consensual agreement between the government and private college managements on seat sharing and fee structure.

There was no official briefing after the Cabinet meeting as the model code of conduct for the gram panchayat elections is in place.

Sources said the government is keen that the amendment bill comes into effect for the academic year 2015-16 and would be placed before the legislature in July.

The government will go for fee structure and seat sharing as decided in the consensual agreement if it is in its favour otherwise it will have the option to make the recommendations made by a regulatory committees binding on the managements.

The 2006 Act provides that private professional colleges earmark 50 per cent of seats for the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and Other Backward Classes. Besides, the fee structure would be determined by a fee regulatory committee and admissions would be monitored by an admission overseeing committee.

The consensual agreement provides for the government and private managements to sit across the table and decide on the fee structure and seat sharing ratio.
The consensual agreement will get statutory status once it becomes part of the Act, the sources said.

The government’s earlier plan of implementing the Act was derailed over the years owing to widespread apprehension regarding the conduct of entrance test and the fixation of fee. The successive governments have been deferring its implementation, hold consultations and bring in amendments.

Since 2006, the government has not been able to implement the Act. Once the proposed amendment is implemented, it need not go before the legislature as there would be provision to either negotiate with professional colleges or implement the Act, official sources said.

According to sources the tentative seat sharing seat ratio for under-graduate medical courses in non-minority colleges is 40 per cent government quota to be filled through CET, 40 per cent private quota to be filled through Comed-K and 20 per cent NRI quota to be filled by managements.

For dental: 35 per cent government quota to be filled through CET, 40 per cent private quota to be filled through Comed-K and 25 per cent NRI quota to be filled by managements.

For engineering: 45 per cent government quota to be filled through CET, 30 per cent private quota to be filled through Comed-K and 25 per cent NRI quota to be filled by managements. According to a representative of an unaided engineering college in Bengaluru, the engineering fees is likely to be hiked by 10 to 12 per cent.
DH News Service