HPTU’s ‘high’ fee irks pvt institutions

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 30

High affiliation and inspection fee being charged by the Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU) has come as a big blow for technical institutions in Himachal.

As per the revised fee notified by the HPTU for 2015-16, the affiliation fee for technical and pharmacy colleges would be Rs 2.50 lakh, while the inspection fee for each course would be Rs 75,000, implying that the institutions running 10 or more courses would have to shell nearly Rs 10-lakh annually and the burden would ultimately pass on to students.

The institutions have been directed to file applications for affiliation/ renewal of affiliation by January 10, 2015, and a late fee of Rs 50,000 would be charged up to January 15 and Rs 1lakh up to January 20.

A senior official of a private college said: “The HPTU is proving a white elephant with no resources of its own. Instead of seeking grants from the government, it is charging exorbitant fee from affiliated technical colleges that are not getting students to fill even sanctioned seats.”

The technical and pharma institutions were earlier affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University, but after the HPTU came into existence, these were affiliated to it and HPU suffered substantial loss of revenue. The managements of technical institutions rue that HPTU’s high fee structure would make technical education unaffordable for poor students.

Further, the opening of private universities that are also running technical courses have also deprived HPU of revenue earned by it from these institutions. Nursing and B Ed colleges are still affiliated to HPU, but the fee structure of private technical and pharma colleges is already high and exorbitant affiliation and inspection fee would further burden the institutions.

The HP Private Educational Institutions’ Regulatory Commission had sanctioned 5,905 seats, but only 3,055 (51.74 per cent) seats were filled.

The APG, Jaypee, Chitkara and Baddi Universities filled 100 per cent, 92.03 per cent, 90.19 per cent and 68.17 per cent seats, respectively, while Maharishi Markandeshwar University did not make any admissions.

The percentage of seats filled by ICFAI, IEC and Eternal Universities was meagre 3.33 per cent, 10.33 per cent and 10.83 per cent, respectively.

Career Point and Indus International Universities could fill 12.33 per cent and 15.83 per cent in spite of relaxation in admission norms.

The government has told the technical institutions in advance that there would be no relaxation in minimum percentage of marks, fixed at 60 per cent from next year and these institutions would face shortage of students to fill sanctioned seats.