The State government has invited private college managements for a meeting at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s official residence here on Friday to hold discussions on the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act 2006, according to a notice sent to college managements.
This has raised eyebrows as the government had declared in December 2013 that the Act would be kept in abeyance for the academic year 2014-15.
The decision was a result of widespread apprehension about the Act in its present form.
Although government officials had mentioned more than once that the government was contemplating bringing amendments to the Act after holding discussions with various stakeholders, they had not hinted at the Act undergoing changes for implementation in the academic year 2014-15. Friday’s meeting appears to be a result of a breakdown in talks in another meeting held with engineering college managements on February 14, wherein managements had stuck to their stand to not sign the consensual agreement.
The agreement would have to be signed as the Act was not being implemented.
Now, with private colleges making public appeals through newspaper advertisements about the merits of the Act, the government could be doing a rethink.
However, government sources refused to confirm if there was a possibility of the Act being implemented this year, although they did not rule it out completely.
M.K. Panduranga Setty, secretary of the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association, said private colleges were unaware of what amendments the government had in mind, but were agreeable to the Act’s implementation for the coming academic year.
