CHENNAI: The State Committee on Fixation of Fee in Respect of Self Financing Professional Colleges has asked the principals of private engineering, arts colleges and polytechnic institutions to submit proposals by May 30. In a letter last week, the committee asked the proposal to be sent for all courses for three consecutive academic years starting 2020-21. The fee for the time period will be fixed based on the proposal sent by the institutions.
The committee will review proposals submitted by the colleges and decide if the institutions can demand the proposed fee from students.After interaction with college management and reviewing the expenditure, the committee will fix the fees for the various programmes offered by the institution.
“Several colleges in the State have not paid staff over the last few months. The situation has particular;y worsened after the onset of the pandemic. Management however showing staff salary as expenditure in the fee proposal,” alleged KM Karthik, the founder of the All India Private Engineering College Employees Association.
He said that the committee should cross-checks the salary disbursed with the Income Tax Department and staff salary accounts. “They would immediately see the disparity if they verify the details of the proposal. This would not only ensure that staff are given the salary they are promised, it would also prevent colleges from exploiting students,” he said. The head of an engineering department in a college in the outskirts told Express on condition of anonymity that she has not been paid since February.
“We have been called in even during the lockdown to help with administrative work of the college. I was asked to tabulate the staff salaries of my department for the fee proposal. However, nine of us have not been paid for the last two months,” she said.
Speaking to Express, the Principal Secretary to the Higher Education Department S Apoorva, IAS, said that ideally the committee should scrutinize teachers’ accounts before allowing colleges to demand a fixed fee from students. “We are still receiving proposals. But we have stopped most work because of the pandemic. I will look into the issue once the lock down is over,” she said.