COIMBATORE: The plan of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to fix minimum fees for technical education courses, which it took up on the request of many institutions, will be delayed, as Justice B N Srikrishna has decided not to continue as Chairman of the fee-fixation committee because of other urgent preoccupations.
Many technical institutions had written to AICTE, after the Srikrishna Committee fixed the maximum fees, demanding that the minimum too be fixed for various courses, as some states had reduced the fees to as low as Rs 30,000. Following this, the AICTE asked the Srikrishna Committee to fix minimum fees as well. However, with Justice Srikrishna, a former judge of the Supreme Court, not being able to continue chairing the committee, this will take more time than expected.
AICTE Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe, when asked whether it would form another committee to fix minimum fees, said, “We will look into it. We will see how to go ahead”.It was in 2014 that AICTE constituted the Srikrishna Committee to recommend fees that private technical institutions can charge for various courses.
Last year, it fixed Rs 1,44,900 to Rs 1,58,300 as maximum annual fee for four-year undergraduate engineering degree courses and Rs 2,05,050 to Rs 2,25,300 as maximum annual fee for five-year architecture degree courses. For the two-year postgraduate courses, it fixed Rs 2,31,350 to Rs 2,51,350 as maximum annual fee for engineering courses and Rs 2,45,875 to Rs 2,69,700 as maximum annual fee for architecture courses.
For diploma and postgraduate diploma courses, the maximum annual fee ranged from Rs 90,000 to Rs 1,00,000.All states and Union territories were directed to comply with the committee’s recommendations. Accordingly, they have formed state fee regulatory committees to fix tuition and development fees private technical institutions can charge.