Committee makes suggestions on amendments to 2006 Act

Meetings with private colleges, minority institutions on Jan. 3

Offering a ray of hope to professional course seat aspirants in the State, the committee set up by the government to look into the possible amendments to the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, has suggested that more seats should go to the government’s share.

The committee has also reportedly drawn attention to the fact that meritorious students should not be affected by a possible high fee structure as individual colleges will have separate fee structures depending on various parameters.

These suggestions were placed during a preliminary meeting here on Wednesday. The committee is headed by Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee.

Concerns

The probability of the Common Entrance Test (CET) being restricted to admissions to government institutions and there not being a common fee structure for colleges have been among the major concerns about the Act in its present form.

Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande told

The Hindu that the Act does not have the provision to extend the CET for admissions to private institutions. “We have to find a way out,” he said.

Decision on modalities

Mr. Deshpande also said the government had convened meetings with private college representatives and those from minority institutions on January 3 after which the final modalities would be decided.

In the Wednesday’s meeting, Minister of State for Medical Education Sharanprakash R. Patil, principal secretaries of the Higher Education and Medical Education departments, and representatives of the Law Department participated.