Govt order cannot overrule our decision: Karnataka Fee regulatory committee

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Fee Regulatory Committee (KFRC), which has capped the fee hike for professional courses in the state at 8 percent, has said that no government order can overrule its decision.

KFRC chairman Justice V. Shylendra Kumar said that the committee will take strict action against engineering, medical or dental colleges that charge more than the prescribed limit. “Students should inform us about colleges charging extra. Even anonymous complaints will be looked into,” he said.

Even if the state government passes an order, it can only be lower than the limit prescribed by the committee. The chief minister and ministers have not been properly briefed leading to confusion on the fee, he said. The same fee structure is likely to be implemented in AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) courses too for the academic year 2018-19.

DGHS to have final say on quota
After Medical Education Minister D.K. Shivakumar asked deemed universities to share at least 50% of their medical and dental seats with the government for domicile students, the universities are waiting for a final decision from the Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS).

Mr Shivakumar had said that the 50:50 matrix will help local students pursue higher education. The eight deemed varsities in the state have 1,630 medical and 630 dental seats. Mr Shivakumar had also said that counselling for these seats can be done by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) or the universities themselves.