SC ruling to cost state an additional Rs 500 cr
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the state government’s application for clarification on fixing the fee structure for private engineering colleges. The state wanted the Fee Review Committee to maintain the two-layer fee structure as maximum beneficiaries of the subsidy were quota students who were charged lower fees. In its application, the state government had stated that the FRC, in the first week of July, had heard the submissions of various colleges in order to evaluate documentary evidence on the fee structure and most of them had “insisted” on a “uniform” fee structure for academic year 2012-13.
The state, meanwhile, wanted to maintain the different fee structures for the two quotas as an interim measure till the court gave its final orders. However, the bench was not impressed with the state’s plea and rejected it saying that the court did not want to interfere with the functioning of the FRC. The government has been reimbursing the fees for convenor quota (70 per cent) seats and officials estimate that this may impose an additional burden of over Rs 500 crore on the state exchequer as the fees will go up from the existing Rs 31,000 to Rs 50,200 per student.
Considering that 80 per cent of the total engineering students admitted under convenor quota are eligible for the fee reimbursement scheme, the burden on the state exchequer would be around Rs 3,000 crore this year. The woes of the state government and students will not end here. They have to brace for higher fees in 240 of the total 714 engineering colleges, which have submitted audited financial statements and undertakings before the Supreme Court and the FRC stating that they would implement AICTE and state government pay scales for teaching and non-teaching staff from this year.
The court had said that only those colleges which had furnished undertakings with the FRC about implementing AICTE recommendations regarding revised salary for faculty and other staff would be permitted to increase their fees. The FRC will fix college-wise common fees for convenor and management quota seats in these colleges based on their financial statements and the estimated burden they have to bear on account of new pay scales this year.
It is expected that the fee hikes in these colleges will range from 40 to 150 per cent. According to AFRC sources, the fee hikes in 133 colleges which have submitted all the details will be more compared to the others that have submitted insufficient details. For the remaining 450 colleges, the fees will increase to nearly Rs 50,200 from the existing Rs 31,000 per annum.
Post new comment