A total of 82 institutions in Karnataka have been declared ineligible for the 8% fee hike recommended by the fee regulatory committee for the academic year 2018-19, as per a report by Sandesh MS in Deccan Herald.
These institutions include engineering, medical, Ayurveda, homeopathy and pharmacy colleges.
Headed by former Karnataka High Court judge Shylendra Kumar, the fee regulatory committee had fixed the 8% fee hike for various institutions offering courses, including deemed universities, private universities and private colleges.
“We had asked all the institutions to submit their accounts. Out of 394 institutions in various streams, 82 institutions did not submit their accounts. Hence we declared them to be non-eligible for the 8% fee hike and ordered them to go ahead with the admission process with the previous year’s fee structure,” Justice Kumar said.
Earlier, all colleges offering Unani, naturopathy and yogic science courses in the state were declared eligible for the fee hike.
Justice Kumar said on Wednesday that the 8% fee hike was recommended by the committee based on the Karnataka Private Educational Institutions Act (regulation of admission and determination of fee).
Justice Kumar added that if these institutions which have been declared ineligible proceed with the 8% fee hike or demand more than the last year’s fee, they will be penalised.
Earlier in June, it was reported that representatives from private medical and dental colleges in Karnataka had decided to move the court after their demand to hike the fees was capped by the state government at 8%.
This followed a meeting with Medical Education Minister DK Shivakumar where he made it clear that the 15% hike proposed by the colleges would be capped at 8%.
MR Jayaram, the Chairman of the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, said, “The minister was not even ready to hear our demands. He straight away rejected our proposal and said he can’t give more than 8%, and that we can do whatever we want to. So, we have decided to fight it out legally.”