In a major development, the AAP government has reportedly decided to roll back its retrospective fees hike in all the colleges affiliated to the city’s Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University. The AAP government’s decision to withdraw the revised fees structure came after direct intervention of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
In his tweets, Mr Kejriwal said that he had learnt that the fees of all the colleges affiliated to the IP University had been hiked and students are agitated over it. He told the students not to worry as he had already asked his education department to roll back the new fees structure. He also wished the students for their upcoming examinations.
Soon after reports in the media suggested that the students and their parents were furious over the way new fees hike had been announced, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta had warned the Kejriwal government that he would launch a major agitation if the fees hike was not rolled back. He had suggested to the Kejriwal government that it should not burden the students with new hikes, but should on its own pay their new dues.
The students of the colleges affiliated to the Indraprastha University were furious about 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 had also been issued in the name of lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung by director (higher education) Shiv Kumar.
The new fees structure had been 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 year 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 sent shock waves among the student community who felt 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, was bound 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, would end up paying Rs 63,400.
Those paying Rs 79,062 for B.Tech. in Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering in Paschim Vihar, were bound to pay Rs 97,700. In the same institute, a student pursuing MCA, who used to pay Rs 86,250, had 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, had to shell out Rs 55,500 per academic session.
