Fee hike: HC notice to govt

The Karnataka High Court issued notice to the state government while hearing a petition filed by deemed universities against the fee regulation committee.

Justice A S Bopanna and Justice Mohammad Nawaz were hearing four petitions filed by various deemed universities stating that the regulation committee has no jurisdiction over them. The petitioners had moved the court seeking directions to declare that the Fee Regulatory Committee has no authority to fix the fee to the petitioner-university.

The petitioners contended that the regulation committee issued a notice, dated June 2, 2018, to the universities under Section 6(2)(3) and (7) of the Karnataka Professional Education Institution Act 2005.

The petitioners argued that Section 2(p) of The Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act 2006 (Act 8/2006) is applicable to 'Professional Educational Courses' with respect to UG and PG levels as well as super specialty courses notified by the state government. As per the provisions of the said Act, the professional courses offered by the deemed universities are notified by UGC under its regulations and not by the state government. So, the Section 2(p) of the Act 8/2006 is not applicable to professional educational courses at deemed universities, they contended.