‘Report colleges demanding capitation fees’
The human resource development ministry has reiterated that students and parents should not pay capitation fees for admission to engineering institutions and if an institute demands it, it should be b
The human resource development ministry has reiterated that students and parents should not pay capitation fees for admission to engineering institutions and if an institute demands it, it should be brought to the notice of the grievance redressal committee of the institute. If not satisfied with the redressal of the problem, they should approach the ombudsman. The HRD ministry has said that the institutions found guilty of charging capitation fees would face withdrawal of approval and punitive action.
According to a statement made by the HRD minister Smriti Irani during the question hour in the Lok Sabha, there were 8,44,328 excess seats in the engineering sector and as per the Srikrishna Committee report appointed by the All India Council for Technical Education institutions are allowed to collect tuition and development fees. Hence, if there are any instances of institutions demanding any other fee other than that mentioned in the prospectus of the institutions, it should be brought to the notice of the redressal committee.
“Aggrieved students/parents can send their complaint to Grievance Redressal Committee of the Institution and, if not satisfied with the decision of the Committee, they can send an appeal to the Ombudsman,” said Ms Irani.
Maharashtra has also been reporting vacant seats in the engineering course and in 2015-16 had nearly 46,000 seats that remained vacant due to lack of sufficient applications.
The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), the regulating body for engineering colleges in the state has been trying to curb collection of capitation fees by sought after institutes. However, some private unaided institutes have been charging fees in excess of the stipulated fees by the Shikshan Shulk Samiti, a body set up by DTE to fix fees that institutions can charge. “The DTE is trying its best to curb exploitation of students at the hands of the institutions, however more efforts will be put in place to curb the malpractice,” said an official from DTE.