Govt leaves engg, med students at mercy of colleges

The inordinate delay by the state government in extending the term of members of the Admission Overseeing Committee, headed by Justice B Manohar, has hampered effective disposal of complaints filed by parents and students against professional colleges in Karnataka.

The Admission Overseeing Committee was constituted by the Higher Education department during the academic year 2018-19 with the term of the nominated members fixed at one year. The members' term expired in July and the committee brought this to the notice of the government in June, seeking an extension of the existing members or nomination of new members.

But, to date, the government has not responded to the request, resulting in over 60 complaints pending before the committee since July 2019. Sharing details with DH, a source from the committee said, "Now only the chairman is left in the committee. The term of the two nominated members has expired. Though the request was sent a month before the expiry of their term, we have not received any communication from the government, so far. This is causing a delay in disposal of cases which are pending before us," said the source.

"As per the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and determination of Fee) Act, 2006, the term of the members of the Admission Overseeing Committee shall be for a period of two years. But, the government limited it to one year," the source added.

Pending complaints

According to the details available from the committee, over 60 cases filed after July 2019 for the 2019-20 academic year are pending. A majority of the cases are against engineering and medical colleges where managements are accused of demanding/collecting the excess fee.

"To issue a notice to colleges, based on the complaints, we need to have members in the committee. If the nomination of members is delayed, then the number of cases will pile up, and justice will be delayed to students," the source said.

It can be recalled that while hearing cases during 2018-19, the committee had passed orders recommending repay of the excess fee collected along with 6% interest. The recommendations were sent to the respective universities/institutions for the implementation of the same.

Fee regulatory panel headless

Interestingly, the Fee Regulatory Committee constituted by the state government, which was headed by Justice D V Shylendra Kumar, has members, but no chairperson. Fee Regulatory Committee was also constituted along with Admission Overseeing Committee.