National Law School of India University (NLSIU) has hiked its fees by more than 27% across the board, a move that is being met with opposition from students who warn that the premier legal research institute will eventually exclude aspirants from socio-economically backward sections.
According to the fee notification, students will have to shell out ₹50,000 additionally every year for the five-year Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Legislative Law (BA LLB), one-year Master of Legislative Law (LLM) and two-year Masters in Public Policy courses. The hike in fees, which was approved by the Executive Council a year ago, came to the attention of students just two weeks ago through a notification on the website.
For a BA.LLB (honours) course, the annual fee has been hiked from ₹1.83 lakh to ₹2.3 lakh. Of this, tuition fee has been increased by ₹20,000 to ₹1 lakh, while a new fee head — electricity charge — has been introduced with the amount being ₹15,000 per annum. The last date for paying the fee is July 7.
NLSIU has said the hike was necessary to meet a rise in costs and for payment of salaries as per recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.
Student bodies have vehemently opposed the “steep” hikes.
“There are multiple ways for the university to raise revenues. For instance by pressuring Central and State governments for funds, instead of increasing the burden on students. This increase will have a disproportionate impact on those from smaller towns, and on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students who have to take loans to study here,” said a fourth-year BA. LLB student. “By keeping the fees high, the demographics of the students studying here will change adversely. Only those who can afford it will join, while many others will opt out,” he added.
The impact of the hike will be felt by those who have already enrolled for the course, some by availing a loan.
“An annual increase of 10% or so is understandable, but a 27% hike cannot be justified. There is no major infrastructure work in the campus to justify this hike,” said a student.
NLSIU’s Student Bar Association has demanded that the Executive Council, comprising legal luminaries and NLSIU faculty, revoke its decision in the meeting scheduled on July 6.
NLSIU Registrar O.V. Nandimath was unavailable for comment.
Published - July 01, 2019 09:36 pm IST
