Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande has said that action would be taken against private engineering colleges that have collected extra fee above Rs. 20,000. The Minister’s statement comes nearly a fortnight after the August 15 deadline set by the government for private engineering colleges to make admission details public.
Speaking at a press conference after launching the EDUSAT programme for government colleges here on Wednesday, Mr. Deshpande, when asked what action would be taken against colleges which have made disclosures on their website that they have collected extra fee above Rs. 20,000, said: “The government has taken steps to ensure transparency in its work. The Saidapur committee (one-man regulatory and monitoring panel for overseeing professional course admissions) will also take action.”
With less than half of the 200 engineering colleges having made the fee details available on a public domain, some even admitting to collecting above the prescribed fee, the Minister said that the Department of Technical Education (DTE) would “play its role as per law”.
“But next year there will be no such problem (of excess fee being collected) as the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and. Determination of Fee) Act, 2006 will be implemented,” Mr. Deshpande added.
The Minister, when the issue of students retracting complaints before the Saidapur committee due to alleged threats from college managements was brought to his notice, said, “Students should submit the truth to the committee. The panel has been formed to build confidence in them.”
