Karnataka govt finally appoints chairperson to Admissions Overseeing Committee

The state government has appointed retired High Court judge Justice Ramachandra D Huddar as the chairperson of the Admissions Overseeing Committee for professional courses – a post that had been vacant for more than one-and-a-half years. A notification confirming the appointment was issued on April 28, but Justice Huddar is yet to assume office.

The term of the previous chairperson ended in October 2024, and grievances that the committee rightfully ought to have redressed have been lying ignored ever since. Officials at the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) confirmed that they had received plenty of complaints against private educational institutions, particularly against medical, engineering and nursing colleges, with many students accusing them of charging excessive fees.

“In 2024, all we could do was give students who filed complaints in person was an acknowledgement slip, while complaints received on mail were forwarded to the concerned departments,” a KEA official said.

In 2025, in view of the growing number of complaints, the Department of Higher Education tasked the Fee Regulatory Committee with addressing plaints pertaining to fees. The KEA official pointed out that the Fee Regulatory Committee was not empowered to address complaints filed with the Admissions Overseeing Committee. “But since there was no other option, the task was assigned to the Fee Regulatory Committee to protect the students’ interests,” the official added.

Complaints of colleges demanding excessive fees and withholding original documents for leaving the course midway through the academic year were markedly higher in 2024 and 2025 compared to the previous years, said another official.

“Despite the government clearly capping the extra fees that colleges can collect at Rs 20,000, some institutions are allegedly asking students to pay up to Rs 70,000,” the official said.

The newly appointed chairperson will also have to contend with the petition filed by COMEDK seeking a probe into charges of top engineering colleges engaging in seat blocking practices.

The new chairperson was appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006.