There will be no Government seats in Unaided Colleges: Karnataka CM

Implementing the regulation act 2006, will not affect the students seeking admission in professional colleges. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah denied to take a stand on the issue.

Under the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act 2006, it is expected to implement the act by next year, and there will be no government quota seats with lower fee in unaided colleges.

"I will convene a meeting with the ministers concerned. The Act was promulgated during the joint rule of B S Yeddyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy, but they did not implement it. Now that we are considering its implementation, there seems to be unnecessary confusion regarding the matter," Siddaramaiah said.

Earlier, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash R Patil said in a press conference, that he desires to decrease public fear on the implementation of the Regulation Act 2006.

There will be no Govt seats in Unaided Colleges

Some of the student communities had already started protest against the act, and demanded the government, not to implement the Regulation Act 2006.

Answering to the questions asked by the student communities, CM said, "I cannot say whether the decision is right or wrong".

Further CM said, "According to the Act 2006, a fee fixation committee headed by former High Court Justice Ajit J Gunjal has already been constituted and that a decision will be made only after the meeting".

About the Implementation of Act 2006, State Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, "The decision on implementing the Fee Regulation Act 2006 was not yet taken".

"The thought of withdrawing the implementation of the 2006 Act has not even crossed our minds. Till now, around 16,000 reservation students sought admissions. With the Act coming in, this number will double to almost 32,000," said a top official from the higher education secretariat.

On the issue, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Vice-Chancellor, H Maheshappa accepted that the fee fixed by the top engineering colleges may not be affordable to the meritorious students".

"Fees in the top 10% of colleges will be hiked. I think the fee will be restricted to Rs 50,000/- in the remaining colleges. There will be no reduction of seats. Students will have all the seats in 11 government and 11 aided engineering colleges for themselves," he said.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Unaided Professional Engineering Colleges Association has cautioned the state government, that if they would not sign the consensual agreement in the event of decision to withdraw the Act 2006.

KUPECA, Secretary, M K Panduranga Setty said, "Is the government ready to pay us the exact cost per student that we incur? Signing the consensual agreement again is not in our interest. We need to run these colleges after all".