Retrospective fee hike irks IP University students

Students studying in colleges affiliated to the Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University are furious over the AAP government’s notification directing them to shell out more money — ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 for each academic session beginning from 2013 onwards. A notification to this effect on the retrospective increase of fees has been issued in the name of lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung by director (higher education) Shiv Kumar.

The new fees structure is based on a report submitted by the State Fees Regulatory Committee set up by the city government on February 1, 2013 to determine fees for pursuing courses in privately-managed institutions offering different courses in the national capital and to perform the functions assigned in the Delhi Professional Colleges or Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fees and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence) Act, 2007.

“The Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi has decided that the fees proposed for the academic 2013-16 by the State Fees Regulatory Committee be notified for the period 2014-17... And for the courses having duration of four years and five years, the fees notified by the government will be applicable for the entire duration of the course.”

The revised fees structure has sent shock waves among the student community who feel that the steep hike in their fees structure was a direct attempt by the city government to help institutions to earn more money to meet their business interests. With the new notification in place, an MCA student who had been paying Rs 96,600 per academic session in Banarasidass Chandiwala Institute of Information Technology, will now have to pay Rs 120,000 for each academic session from 2013 onwards. A student pursuing LL.B. with Amity Law School, Noida, who used to pay Rs 55,200 for one academic year, will now have to shell out Rs 63,400.

Those paying Rs 79,062 for B.Tech. in Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering in Paschim Vihar, will be bound to pay Rs 97,700. In the same institute, a student pursuing MCA, who used to pay Rs 86,250, will now have to pay Rs 120,000. For BBA, a student who used to pay Rs 48,300 in 2011-12 to the Delhi Institute of Rural Development in Nangli Poona village, will have to shell out Rs 55,500 per academic session.

Reacting to the notification, a B.Tech. student said: “What about those who have already paid our fees for the entire session, especially the final year students, who are now left with two more months before graduation.”

A MCA student said: “If the government is late with the fees revision, why are we now being asked to pay anything for the past academic sessions This is like asking for the petrol money after two years because the price have gone up now.”

A retired professor wondered how the fees hike was going to benefit the students, especially when it concerns the payment for the previous year. “How can the final year student benefit from it when they are already graduating in two months Why should they pay anything now ”

The new notification is based on a report by the city government-appointed eight-member committee, headed by former Delhi chief secretary Ramesh Narayan Swamy, to determine the fees for courses in privately-managed institutions under the IP University in Delhi. The committee was asked to suggest within three months the fees structure of 106 privately-owned colleges affiliated to IP University for the period of 2013 and 2016. The committee was re-constituted on February 13, 2013.

Fees regulation is done after a gap of three years. The last such exercise was undertaken in 2009 and that panel had recommended fees for the year 2009-12. In the academic session 2011-12, the committee headed by former chief secretary of Delhi S. Raghunathan had recommended a five per cent hike for private colleges affiliated with the Indraprastha University.