Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)

Mangalore, Jun 23: State degree colleges are now permitted to retain 50 per cent of tuition and laboratory fee as per the decision taken at a meeting convened by the principal secretary, higher education, Kaushik Mukherjee in Bangalore. The decision is reportedly a restoration of an earlier order.

This high level meeting held on June 8 was attended by the commissioner and director of collegiate education, regional joint directors of collegiate education and the officials of the department.

Representatives of the Federation of Degree College Principals’ Associations in Karnataka, led by its president Y Bhaskar Shetty, had discussed this issue with minister for higher education D H Shankaramurthy and Mukherjee at a meeting earlier in Bangalore on May 24.

The minister had then reportedly assured the federation of restoring the earlier order of 1977 wherein an agreement entered between the government and college managements it had been decided that colleges could retain with them 50 per cent of the tuition and laboratory fee collected from students, for maintenance. The remaining sum had to be remitted to the government.

However in 2003, the government amended the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Collegiate Education) Rules, 2003, and asked the colleges to remit the entire fee to it. This decision was not agreed to by the college managements and they continued to pay only 50 per cent of the fee to the government.

Due this the government recently issued notices to some colleges instructing the managements to pay the arrears ranging from Rs 15 lac to Rs 20 lac. It had also threatened to withhold the grant-in-aid to the colleges if they failed to remit the arrears.

To solve this matter the representatives of the federation met the Minister and apprised him the consequences of the government’s decision. The federation also requested the minister to restore the earlier order of 1977.

Reportedly the government is expected to issue an order to this effect very soon.