The legal tangle over the fee for engineering courses is likely to continue as the state government and some engineering colleges filed separate petitions in the AP High Court on the issue.

The Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC) and the state government sought stay of an order fixing Rs 50,200 as the fee for colleges which have not given affidavits or consent before the AFRC. Meanwhile, 44 private colleges approached the High Court over them being ignored for counselling, which began on Monday.

Advocate-General A. Sudarshan Reddy on Monday urged a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar to stay the earlier order of a single judge fixing Rs 50,200 as the fee for certain colleges, contending that it would amount to “profiteering”.
These colleges had not submitted affidavits or consent letters to the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC)

He also informed the court that the order of the single judge could not be enclosed with the appeal as it had been passed on Friday and they were unable to get a copy of it. The bench adjourned the matter after making it clear that it would not grant an interim order without going through the earlier order. It asked the AG to place a copy of the order before it by Tuesday. Meanwhile, about 44 private engineering colleges also approached the High Court seeking a direction to declare the action of the government in not notifying their colleges in the Eamcet counselling schedule as illegal.

They contended that despite court orders to notify the fee of Rs 50,200 for their colleges, the authorities had wilfully omitted their colleges from the counselling schedule. Several other colleges have also moved the High Court challenging the action of the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee in fixing Rs 35,000 as the fee for their colleges despite their affidavits before it.

They contended that the action of the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee was illegal. Mr K. Arun, an aspirant for an engineering seat, meanwhile, filed a plea seeking a direction to the state government to conduct “one phase counselling” for admissions into engineering courses.

Eamcet tech counselling starts in state
Eamcet engineering web-based counselling commenced on Monday with the verification of certificates at over 50 centres across the state. Tension prevailed at several centres as some student organisations clashed with police and tried to disrupt the counselling process to protest the increase in fees and demand reimbursement of the entire fee amount irrespective of differential fee in various colleges. The counselling has been long-delayed due to the row over the fee hike and this has upset students and parents.

Though Eamcet rankers from 1 to 15,000 were called for counselling on Day-1, only 8,970 turned up. Officials, though, maintained that the attendance was good compared to previous years, when it used to be in the range of 6,000. “Most of the students in this category (from rank 1 to 15,000) also get good ranks in IIT-JEE, AIEEE etc and take admission in IITs, NITs, IIITs and other reputed deemed universities. For that reason, we witness thin attendance on the first day every year. But this time, the attendance is comparatively better than in previous years,” said Dr K. Raghunath, camp officer, Eamcet admissions.

Eamcet rankers from 1 to 40,000 will be allowed to give options on August 30, which will continue till September 8. The seat allotments will be annou-nced on September 12.