82 state institutions not eligible for 8% fee hike

As many as 82 institutions in Karnataka have been declared ineligible for the 8% fee hike recommended by the fee regulatory committee recently for the current academic year 2018-19. The list of such institutions includes engineering, dental, medical, pharmacy, Ayurveda and homoeopathy colleges.

The fee regulatory committee headed by former Karnataka High Court judge Shylendra Kumar had fixed the 8% fee hike for institutions offering various courses that include deemed universities, private universities and private colleges. All colleges offering Unani and naturopathy and yogic science courses in the state were eligible for the fee hike.

Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Justice Kumar clarified that the 8% fee hike was recommended by the committee based on the Karnataka Private Educational Institutions Act (regulation of admission and determination of fee). “We had asked all the institutions to submit their accounts. Out of 394 institutions in various streams, 82 institutions did not submit their accounts. Hence we declared them to be non-eligible for the 8% fee hike and ordered them to go ahead with the admission process with the previous year’s fee structure,” Justice Kumar said.

If these ineligible institutions go ahead with the 8% fee hike or demand more than the previous year’s fee, they will be penalised.

“The managements had quoted various reasons like future development, infrastructure, facilities etc justifying the fee hike. However, it is not possible to give more than 8%. We have conveyed this to all the institutions and made them agree to this,” he added. “A few medical colleges tried to defend their demand for fee hike by showing hospital expenditure in the accounts.”