HPU meet to discuss fee hike, RUSA

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 28

The Student Federation of India (SFI) will force a discussion on the high-powered committee report on fee hike at the meeting of the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) to be held here tomorrow.

Each member of the EC will be submitted the copy of the memorandum, seeking discussion on the report and follow up action for curtailing the fee hikes last year.

The SFI and ABVP had been demanding that the report of the Fee Committee, headed by former High Court Judge V K Sharma be made public but even after lapse of six months, the EC had not discussed the report nor it had been made public.

The issue of implementation of the Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is also likely to come up for discussion in the meeting as the teachers, students and non-teaching employees are opposing the hasty move of the university to implement RUSA for undergraduate courses without proper preparations.

Sources in the university said the recruitment of staff and problems in the implementation of RUSA would be a part of the agenda to be discussed in the meeting besides discussion on that weather relaxation be given to candidates who completed their Ph.D before 2009 without clearing NET which is considered as an essential qualification for appointments in teaching faculties.

The representative of the non-teaching employees in the EC Devi Ram Sharma said he would oppose the hasty implementation of RUSA in the meeting tomorrow and apprise the EC members about the difficulties face by the employees and the students under RUSA.

President of Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of non-teaching employees Hiteshwar Thakur said that the JCC would submit memoranda to the EC members and appraise them about the problems faced by the employees.

Activists of the ABVP lodged their protest on the university campus and said thousands of students were compelled to take additional financial burdened due to the fee hike.