Law to rein in pvt colleges

CET Act will cover fee, seat-sharing issues in professional institutions

The details o

f the Common Entrance Test Act will be worked out in the next few months and the Act will be applicable from the academic year 2011-12, Higher Education Minister Aravind Limbavali told media persons on Thursday.

He said the suggestion to enact the law was made during the meeting he had with the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) Governing Council and other stakeholders.

The CET Act will encompass all aspects, including the fee structure for MBBS, BDS and BE courses, the seat matrix, the admission policy and reservation. Limbavali said the department would also constitute a Fee Determination Committee. The Committee will look into the existing problems in fee structure for various courses in private and government colleges.

3-member committee

In the wake of strong criticism over the abolition of the one-man regulatory committee to address the grievances of the students during the admission through CET, the government has decided to constitute a three-member full-fledged committee.

Limbavali said the committee would comprise members from the Karnataka State Higher Education Council and address the grievances of the students. The committee would have the powers of a regulatory body to sort out problems that may arise between the students and college managements during the admission process.

The regulatory committee was looking into issues like transfer of documents, procurement of certificates from management during college transfer and the fee demanded by colleges.  To address the issue of unfilled BE seats, more seats will be set aside for students who gain admission by lateral entry.

“Along with the 15 per cent seats allotted for diploma students this year, 11,000 unfilled seats too will be set aside for diploma holders. This will provide more opportunities for diploma students and at the same time no BE seat will remain vacant,” Limbavali said.

The minister invited interested private engineering colleges to join CET.  “Interested private colleges can write to the KEA or the state government. Such colleges will be included in the CET 2010 brochure-cum-application with the seat availability and students will benefit in doing so.”