Centralised admissions: Will boycott govt’s arbitrary portal, says RMS Chhina

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 22

The Non-Govt Aided Colleges Management Federation on Wednesday said the tepid response of the Bhagwant Mann government to the issues confronting the colleges was forcing them to adopt the path of agitation as the state government was bent upon enforcing unilateral, arbitrary decisions without consulting them as stakeholders.

Addressing mediapersons, federation president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said the latest directives from the Education Department to impose centralised admission portals through a private firm was illegal, full of flaws and being enforced with ‘ulterior motives’.

“We have shot off letters to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Education Minister Meet Hayer, but there is no response. Our appeals for discussions and listening to our grievances have also fallen on deaf ears,” said Chhina. He said the DPI and Education Department officials do not bother even to listen to the genuine grievances. He alleged that the top officials were hands in glove with private players and have imposed the draconian order of centralised admission by a portal developed by a Mumbai-based private IT company.

He said the move was not practicable as it will lead to harassment of students and their parents, seeking admissions in the current academic session (2022-2023).

“The colleges already have their own online portals, which cater to the needs of admissions. The government’s decision is discriminatory as the private universities had been kept out of the purview and they will be benefited with this scheme at the cost of the government-aided colleges,” said Chhina.

Further, there was a complete violation of principles of natural justice as no prior discussion regarding the centralised online admission process has been held with prime stakeholders.

The federation, that represents 142 colleges from Punjab and Chandigarh, said such systems already announced by the government for BEd and law colleges have failed miserably. He alleged that it was being made mandatory for aided colleges to enter into an agreement with NSDL to collect fee from students in their account and after deduction of their commission fee, transfer the balance fee to the colleges. He also called the attempt of the state of Punjab to take over the admission process of these affiliating universities as amounting to interfering in the autonomy of these universities.

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