The State government on Friday decided to keep the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act-2006 in abeyance for the academic year 2014-15 also, in the wake of widespread apprehensions that this legislation may trigger a massive hike in fees for professional educational courses.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Ministers concerned convened by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bangalore on Friday. Briefing presspersons after the 150-minute meeting, the Chief Minister said the government would soon convene a meeting of the representatives of managements of professional colleges to evolve a consensual agreement with them regarding sharing of seats and fee structure for the academic year 2014-15, as the above Act was being kept in abeyance.
The Act would be implemented only after widespread consultations with Opposition parties, managements of professional colleges, experts and representatives of students’ organisations, he said.
Priority
Asserting that the interests of the students was the top-most priority of the government, Mr. Siddaramaiah also made it clear that the government was ready to amend the Act, if need be, to remove apprehensions that it would lead to a fee hike.
He said the government had earlier decided to implement the Act — which has been kept in abeyance ever since its formulation in 2006 — only in the interest of students. However, it had now decided to keep the Act in abeyance as apprehensions had been expressed from various quarters, including students and parents.
