Varsities allowed to collect 75% of prescribed fees

The Karnataka High Court passed an interim order permitting the deemed universities to collect 75% of the fees recommended by the committees constituted by the respective varsities for the courses offered by them for the academic year 2018-19.

The fees will be collected from the first year students for admission to the various courses offered by the universities.

A division bench comprising of Justice A S Bopanna and Justice Mohammad Nawaz, hearing a batch of petitions by the deemed universities, passed orders. Four deemed varsities had moved the court against the state and Fee Regulation Committee claiming that they had no jurisdiction over them on fee matters.

The deemed universities - JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research from Mysuru, Nitte and Yenepoya Universities from Mangaluru and Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research from Kolar - had sought directions for quashing the order dated June 27, 2018, passed by the Fee Regulatory Committee on the ground that the same was arbitrary and illegal.

The petitioners had contended that Committee is attempting to take away the autonomy of the petitioners with regard to their right to fix their own fee structure. They further contended that such a right is safeguarded under Articles 19(1)(g) and 30(1) as a part and parcel of the fundamental right to carry on their occupation.

The petitioners argued that implementation of the Regulatory Committee’s order will result in a complete chaos of the admission process for the academic year 2018-19.