Panel suggests 15% annual hike in engg fee

BANGALORE: Professional courses can no longer escape the effects of inflation. Starting this year, the fee meter could start ticking for aspiring engineers and doctors in the state.
The Fee Regulatory Committee headed by Justice (retd) B Padmaraj has recommended up to 15% increase in engineering fee until 2015. On an average, the fee for BE courses will increase by around Rs 3,000 per year for engineering colleges, over the next three years.
The committee, which scrutinised the balance sheets of professional colleges over the past three years, while calculating the cost incurred in educating a student, has recommended a maximum fee of Rs 54,000 and minimum fee of Rs 24,000 for BE courses for 2011-12. Six colleges, most of them from Bangalore, will carry a price tag of Rs 51,000. The fee for most of the 200-odd colleges in the state ranges between Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000. Though the state government has managed to convince the colleges to sign a consensual agreement for this year, the fee panel's recommendations are valid until 2015.
FURTHER INCREASE LIKELY
As most private unaided colleges are yet to implement the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission, the fee panel has agreed to allow 35% increase in the salary component of the fee for BE courses. "The fee recommended by the panel is for a pre-6th Pay Commission scenario, where the salary for teaching and non-teaching staff was not revised. For colleges which will implement the recommendations in full, and produce necessary proof, the panel has agreed to further increase the fee by 35% in the salary component," Panduranga Shetty, vice-president, Karnataka Unaided Private Professional Colleges' Association (KUPECA), told TOI. Only three colleges implemented, or showed intent to implement the 6th Pay Commission's recommendations before the panel.
The fee panel was set up in May 2010 to recommend college-wise fee for engineering, medical, dental and Ayush for both minority and non-minority institutions for four academic years, starting 2011-12.
Although some colleges have moved the high court seeking implementation of the Padmaraj Committee's recommendations, KUPECA on Thursday agreed to the fee formula spun by the government, ending over five months of fierce negotiations. After demanding Rs 50,000 for government quota seats, they settled for Rs 35,000 for BE seats filled via CET, and Rs 1.25 lakh for seats filled by private colleges. The Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) report, which was submitted on March 7, will be made public by June 8.
ENSURING TRANSPARENCY
The Fee Regulatory Committee has clearly stated that the state government shall hand over individual letters on the fee structure fixed by FRC to heads of institutions for implementation from the academic years 2011-2012 to 2014-2015, as per the table annexed to the report. The institutions cannot charge -- directly or indirectly -- any amount over and above that fixed as tuition fee by the committee, except the statutory fee.