The committee did not mention about fees for deemed universities that demand higher fee to the tune of `35 lakh to Rs 45 lakh per year. The government decided that deemed universities are not under the preview of the fee committee. Quoting the relevant clause in the regulations, Siwach said no deemed university shall demand capitation fee or donation in whatever nomenclature or form.
The University grants commission (UGC) has warned of action against deemed universities collecting exorbitant fees from postgraduate medical and dental students.
UGC joint secretary Sunita Siwach sent letters to three deemed universities -Sri Balaji Vidyapith, Mahatma Gandhi medical college campus, Puducherry, Bharath institute of higher education and research, Selaiyur, Chennai (Sri Lakshminarayana institute of medical sciences, Kudapakkam, Puducherry) and Vinayaka Mission`s research foundation, Salem (Aarupadai Veedu medical college cum hospital, Kirumampakkam, Puducherry and Vinayaka Mission medical college, Karaikal, Puducherry) -in this regard after lt governor Kiran Bedi brought the issue to the notice of the commission.
Siwach, in the official communications sent to the three universities, pointed out that deemed universities are regulated by the UGC (Institutions deemed to be universities) Regulations, 2016. Quoting the relevant clause in the regulations, Siwach said no deemed university shall demand capitation fee or donation in whatever nomenclature or form.
"If there are any fees prescribed in accordance with the fee regulations framed by the government or by the commission (fees committee in Puducherry`s case) then the fees or other charges for admission shall not exceed the same," Siwach said.
Earlier, students hailing from the Union territory of Puducherry, who cleared National eligibility cum entrance test (Neet), submitted a memorandum seeking Bedi`s immediate intervention to resolve the issue.
The students, in their memorandum to Bedi, said the fees committee constituted by the Puducherry government based on the directions of the Supreme Court fixed the fees for the government seats at Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh for clinical and non-clinical programmes respectively in private institutions. The committee did not mention about fees for deemed universities that demand higher fee to the tune of `35 lakh to Rs 45 lakh per year.
"The government decided that deemed universities are not under the preview of the fee committee. The government`s stand is illegal and is not in line with the UGC regulations, 2016 issued for regulating the deemed universities," said the memorandum.
Bedi, in a letter to UGC secretary Jaspal Singh Sandhu, said the Puducherry government fixed fees for three affiliated colleges of Pondicherry University alone leaving out four deemed university colleges running in the Union territory of Puducherry.
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