IITs to submit report on liabilities

The human resource development (HRD) ministry asked the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to submit a report on their financial liabilities and the details of the revenue generated by them.

The ministry made the demand at a recent meeting of the IIT council in Mumbai, after the premier institutes informed the ministry of the financial burden they were in following the introduction of fee waiver for certain categories of students.

The meeting was presided over by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.

The IITs had introduced a hike in their tuition fee by about 122% last year.  The decision, made with the approval of the HRD ministry, had increased the annual tuition fee of students from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

 However, acting on a proposal from the ministry, the institutes had agreed to a fee waiver scheme. They agreed to a full waiver of tuition fee for students whose annual family income is less than Rs 1 lakh per annum. A complete waiver was also introduced for people with disabilities.

Students with annual family income between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh were given a concession. As per the scheme, students falling under this category were given a concession of two-thirds of the original fee.

After the implementation of the scheme, the IITs began complaining that the fee waiver was putting a strain on their financial resources, as a major chunk of their students had now become eligible for special concessions.

Students belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were already availing a complete fee waiver.
“The IITs say the purpose of the fee hike remains defeated with the introduction of the fee waiver and concessions. They want the government to do something about it,” a ministry official said.

“Though no decision was taken on this issue, all the IITs were requested to submit a detailed report on their finances, which should include data on the tuition fee collected from students, revenue generated from other sources, various expenditures and the loan schemes offered to students,” the official said.
Wings of two planes brush against each other