fee

Court-appointed Shikshan Shulk Samiti (fee fixation committee) has decided to crack the whip on errant private unaided professional colleges indulging in the practice of submitting false documents in order to secure an exorbitant hike in the fee structure. In its recent decision, the committee has decided to penalise such colleges by imposing a 50 per cent slash in their fee structure.

But the punishment does not end there. The committee will further ask the respective authorities under which the concerned professional colleges sit uated across the state are affiliated with, to withdraw their recognition. For instance, in case of a private unaided medical college, the committee would be communicating to the Medical Council of India to withdraw their affiliation.

Whereas in the case of private unaided engineering colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education will be intimated about the cancellation of their recognition.

“We have been receiving several complaints from students that the fees charged by the colleges are exorbitant in comparison to the expenditure incurred by them. The Samiti revises the fee structure of these private unaided professional colleges – medical, engineering, architecture, management and B.Ed – based on the documents submitted by the colleges. Due to lack of control over these colleges, some of them submit wrong financial documents to the comittee based upon which the fee structure is fixed,” said retired Justice PS Patankar, Chairman of the Shikshan Shulk Samiti.

Patankar added, “The decision to crack down on the profiteering business practiced by the private colleges would help the Samiti to devise a reasonable fee structure. Earlier, although the malpractices were brought to the notice of the Samiti, nothing much was done to preserve the interest of the student fraternity.” On the other hand, private unaided medical colleges allege that the Samiti has failed to devise an appropriate fee structure till date. “It’s a fruitless exercise, as we need to understand the kind of machinery available with the Samiti in order to discover the irregularities in the college documents. The Samiti does not have sufficient manpower to appoint committees that would pay surprise visits to professional colleges and scruti nise their documents,” alleges Dr AM Vare, president of Association of Private Unaided Medical and Dental Colleges.

The parents of students studying in private professional colleges have welcomed the decision. Rajesh Jain, spokesperson with the Parents’ Association for Medical Students (PAMS), said: “We welcome the decision. But will the Samiti be able to implement the decision? It lacks essential infrastructure to crack down on the colleges indulging in financial malpractices.” Patankar said: “The Samiti will appoint an enquiry panel that will pay a visit to those colleges blacklisted by the students as charging fees over an above the expenditure incurred by them. Colleges will be penalised based upon the committee’s report proving them as guilty.”