Managements of engineering colleges will file a petition in the AP High Court on Monday challenging the ordinances empowering the state government to inspect colleges and cancel approvals if found to be violating the norms on faculty and infrastructure. A second petition will be filed questioning the state government’s policy of fixing the same fees for all colleges irrespective of their faculty and infrastructure and the expenditure they incur.
“The ordinances were promulgated with an aim to harass college managements that are asking for fee hikes. The state government already has all the powers to control the engineering colleges. Besides AICTE inspections every year, universities too are conducting yearly inspections before renewing affiliations. “The government has been including the colleges in the Eamcet counselling every year by issuing separate GOs for every college after verifying all the aspects. So where was the need for the government to constitute fresh task forces to inspect the colleges? This will only lead to more corruption,” said Nimmatoori Ramesh, general secretary of the Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges’ Management Associations.
College managements are also upset with the “pressure tactics” being adopted by the government which is forcing all colleges to accept a moderate fee hike of Rs 35,000 from the existing Rs 31,000, without taking their income and expenditure, faculty and infrastructure into account. “As per the fee structure fixed by the AFRC for the three-year period from 2010, the common fees work out to be Rs 50,200. But the government is pressurising the colleges to accept the fee hike of Rs 35,000 with an intention of reducing its financial burden on account of the fee reimbursement scheme. This is against the spirit of the SC’s orders, which had asked the state to fix fees based on faculty and infrastructure,” Mr Ramesh said.