The AP Private Engineering Colleges Management Association (APPECMA) and other societies and also certain individuals on Thursday moved the AP High Court challenging the decision of the government to fix a uniform fee of Rs 35,000 per student studying in private engineering colleges. Mr B.S. Appa Rao representing the association and others contended that the right of the management to fix the fee has been upheld by the Supreme Court in TMA Pai Foundation versus State of Karnataka case.
The Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC) was empowered to consider the appropriateness of the fee as it was constituted pursuant to the decisions of the apex court and has been granted statutory recognition in the state and the recommendations of the committee are binding on the state government. They told the court that the institutions that are not accepting the fee fixed by the state government are being threatened with serious consequences, including conducting raids and initiation of criminal proceedings.
These acts of the government are completely without jurisdiction and the same actually constitute an act of “state terrorism”, the petitioners’ averred. The petitioners said that they are reserving their right to challenge the ordinances issued by the state government to regulate the private engineering colleges. They urged the High Court to direct the state government to act in accordance with the Rules made in the year 2007 and to consider the recommendations made by the AFRC for the purpose of fixing fee for the 2012-13 academic year.