Suresh (name changed), son of a farmer from Chitradurga, was in tears. He had secured a government-quota seat in a private engineering college near Hebbal. Having applied under the ‘Category-1’ quota (Other Backward Classes category), he was not expected to pay any fee as his family’s annual income was below Rs. 2.5 lakh. The government was to reimburse this amount.
But, with the government yet to do this, complaints of colleges demanding students pay the amount have started surfacing. In Suresh’s case, he got his seat cancelled, but all his original documents are with the college. “They are asking us to pay four years’ fee. Where do we get that kind of money from?” his distraught father asks.
Students quitOfficials in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) said there were instances of students belonging to this category quitting the college over “harassment” from colleges.
While under the earlier system, the government would directly remit the money to colleges, the KEA was roped in during the last admission season in 2014. The KEA did not collect any fee from students, instead it had to handover a list of students to the government to reimburse.
“The Government Order to implement the system came only in August, when the admission process was nearly through. In mid-December, we submitted the list of students in undergraduate courses. As half the academic year is over, the colleges have started asking the students to pay up,” an official said.
Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya said the government had conveyed clearly to colleges that they cannot ask students to pay. “If it is happening, we will send out a message again. As for the money, I will see if there is a delay and push for release of funds immediately,” he said.