Minority colleges: Panel to set norms

HYDERABAD: The state government has constituted a committee to formulate the fee structure and seat allotment practices in minority educational institutions in the wake of the recent Supreme Court verdict.
The committee, set up on Dec. 9, will set guidelines for various departments in minority colleges. It will be headed by the principal secretary (minority welfare) and its members will include the finance secretary, commissioner of technical education, chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE), secretary of the Board of Intermediate Education and secretary for higher education.
To determine the ratio of allotment of seats and the fee structure in a given college, the committee would take a final decision in consultation with the vice-chancellor or principal of the college concerned, APSCHE chairman Prof C Subba Rao told The Times of India .
Though the Supreme Court judgement last month granted unfettered freedom to minority colleges to set their own fee structure and seat allotment norms, the minority colleges approached the APSCHE to suggest a viable fee structure. The council forwarded the request to the government which constituted the present committee, an APSCHE official said.
The Supreme Court judgement had also underlined that minority institutions were liable to scrutiny by the government and the university of its affiliation, so there is not too much disparity in the fee structure, he said.
There has to be some percentage of seats given in order of merit and some payment seats with a viable fee structure, Prof. Rao said.
Regarding the allotment of seats to minority and non-minority students in these institutions, the ratio could be either 50:50 or 80:20, he said. The matter would be discussed by the committee in a couple of days and the entire exercise completed in two months, he said.