Counselling for engineering stream in Eamcet-2012 may be delayed further as the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition filed by Andhra Pradesh asking for implementation of revised differential fee structure for category A and B seats.
The state had sought permission to proceed with differential fee structure for seats under category A to be filled through counselling for candidates qualified in Eamcet. Seats under category B (management quota) are to be filled by private college managements.
The dismissal of the petition upholds the uniform fee structure proposed by AP High Court where both category A and B students will pay Rs 50,200 annually. The figure was indicated by the state government in an undertaking it had given to the Supreme Court when a few engineering, MBA and MCA college managements had applied for a fee-hike and uniform fee structure.
Talks are yet to begin on how much of a hike could be allowed for the 240 engineering colleges which have applied for a fee revision,” said professor P. Jaya Prakash Rao, chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) and a representative of Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC).
The AFRC had earlier suggested fee hike ranging up to Rs 60,000 depending on the colleges which had submitted income and expenditure affidavits with the committee for revision of fee-structure. The AFRC and Supreme Court had sought the details on infrastructure and accounts from private college managements who had applied for fee hike and only 133 colleges had responded with the complete information.
The deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha had earlier said that the state government was willing to support a hike of Rs 5,000 for category A seats in these colleges as long as the variable fee structure for convener and management quota seats were maintained. In the event of implementation of this scheme, the government will have to shoulder an additional burden of around Rs 150 crore for reimbursement of fee for students belonging to SC/ST categories.
On the basis of better infrastructure and revising the payscale of staff in accordance with sixth pay commission, some of the Tier-I engineering colleges have been asking for a fee hike between Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 per annum. “The decision has to be taken by the government,” observed Dr. P. Rajeshwar Reddy, general secretary of the Consortium of Engineering College Managements Association.
The decision will be taken by AFRC after the disposal of the case by the apex court which will hear it next on September 24. Till a final decision is reached, the students will continue to be on tenterhooks, suffering a delay in counselling and commencement of the academic session.