A one-man committee constituted by the government has sternly asked professional colleges not to demand from Common Entrance Test (CET) students any fees over and above what is stipulated by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).
S K Saidapur, former Karnatak University Vice-Chancellor, who heads the Karnataka State Professional Colleges Admissions Monitoring Committee, told Express that he will strictly insist on following the consensual agreement.
“Since the agreement does not have any provision for colleges to collect extra fees, we will view violations seriously and take action,” he declared.
He was reacting to the decision taken by the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) to categorise extra fees as ‘mandatory’ and ‘optional’.
“I suggest that the KUPECA president withdraw the decision and his statements. As far as the fee structure is concerned, it has to be as per the mutual understanding between the institutions and government,” Prof Saidapur said.
The committee received as many as 405 complaints last year pertaining to non-refund and return of documents, extra fee, collection of fees from SC/ST students and others. Of these, 86 complaints were about collection of extra fees. In some cases, students withdrew complaints following threats from colleges.
Sources said that last year, some colleges were ‘informally’ allowed to charge extra fee up to a limit, although the state government denied having categorised colleges according to which they could charge extra fees. There were five colleges that could charge up to Rs 20,000, ten colleges that could charge up to Rs 15,000 and the remaining could charge up to Rs 10,000 as extra fees.
Prof Saidapur intervened in one case where an engineering college in Mangalore had charged a student Rs 25,000 for pre-placement training. The college was informed that it could charge only Rs 10,000 and the student was refunded Rs 15,000.
Two-day CET From Tomorrow
Bangalore: The Common Entrance Test (CET) will be conducted on May 1 and 2 in 314 examination centres across the state. Of these, 70 centres are in Bangalore. A total of 1,40,461 candidates are appearing for the test, including 36,411 in Bangalore. As per the schedule, Biology and Mathematics tests will be held from 10.30 am to 11.50 am and 2.30 pm to 3.50 pm respectively on Thursday. The Physics and Chemistry tests will be held on Friday. A Kannada language test for Horanadu and Gadinadu Kannadiga students will be held on May 3 from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm in three centres in Bangalore and 1,660 candidates will take this test. A total of 314 observers, 628 special investigation squad members, 314 custodians, 8,782 invigilators and 15,650 officials have been deployed.