Conflicts amidst Karnataka govt & management colleges, students tensed

Students who are applying for Common Entrance Test (CET) remain tensed as the conflict between the state government and management colleges association have not been resolved yet.

"We are totally confused. As we cannot depend on anything, we have been forced to register everywhere, like COMEDK, deemed universities and state CET," said Sindhu BK of MES college.

Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), Bangalore had already announced the CET exam dates in November 2013.

"Issue of the application forms and brochure should be ended by February 2014", said KEA official.

The process has been delayed as the government is yet to take the decision of signing a consensual agreement on seat-sharing and fee structure for professional courses.

"We were supposed to complete the process of issuing applications by this time. But we cannot say what will happen in the last minute. We cannot even print application forms-cum-brochures without mentioning the fee structure," said a senior official of KEA.

Another KEA source said, "We are getting regular calls from parents and students, calls even from outside Karnataka inquiring about the availability of applications."

Meanwhile, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) has said that it will sign the consensual agreement between the government.

The state government called a high-level meeting with management colleges members, and decided to implement the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (regulation of admissions and determination of fee) Act 2006 with amendments.

"We will have our say in it. We are firm in our decision that we will not sign the consensual agreement. We have demanded the implementation of the Act and let us see, what amendments they propose," said MK Panduranga Shetty, secretary of KUPECA.

A senior KEA official confirmed that the amendments to the Act have been submitted to the Law Department for its opinion.

"Once we receive it back, we will submit the final copy before the ongoing legislature session," the official said.

According to sources, after the meeting, they have agreed to few amendments. These provided for 75% seats to Karnataka students, a single entrance test and allotment of seats through a single window system, and fee concession for poor and meritorious students.

KEA official said that, single CET would be conducted by KEA, and scores would be applicable for all the management colleges also.

The KUPECA secretary M K Panduranga Setty said, "I got to know about a meeting of government representatives where they were planning to bring amendments to the act. As we have stated earlier, we are ready if our cost per student is accepted. We will wait and see what the amendment is all about and then react."

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