The stalemate over engineering colleges’ fee structure that has been delaying admissions seems to have eased to some extent with some colleges agreeing to follow last year’s fee structure for the academic year 2012-13.
“The members of our consortium are prepared to follow the old fee structure for academic year 2012-13 to speed up the process of counselling,” said N Ramesh, chairman of the Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges Management Association (CEPCMA).
Another consortium of private college managements, the Consortium of Engineering Colleges Management Association (CECMA) however is not prepared to take any cut-back on the order given by Supreme Court to allow for revision of fee structure this year. “The 450 colleges who are members of CECMA have not agreed on old fee structure. We would like to go by the verdict of apex court and whatever the revisions granted, we will go by that,” said secretary of CECMA P Rajeshwar Reddy.
The decision to follow the old fee structure was accompanied with the rider that the colleges will not implement the payscale suggested by the sixth pay commission for its employees. “The 14-odd colleges which had applied for fee hike due to the additional cost incurred by paying salaries as per sixth pay commission might demand the revised fee structure but we agree to go by the previous structure as long as we are not required to revise the salaries of the faculty,” said N Ramesh of CEPCMA. The association will meet the deputy chief minister on Wednesday to table their proposal.
The government had agreed upon 133 colleges revising their fee for Category A merit seats from Rs 31,000 to Rs 35,000. As these colleges are not under a common association, it is unclear whether they would agree to continue with the old fee structure for the academic year 2012-13.