In response to a question related to the excess fee being charged from students, Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani gave a written statement to Lok Sabha stating that students/parents should not pay any excess fee to the institutions other than those mentioned in their prospectus.
Although there is a tough competition for admission into reputed Government and Private Colleges but overall 8,44,328 seats were left vacant in engineering colleges in session 2014-15. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) noticed that some institutions are taking excess fees from students on the name of capitation fee etc. As per the report of Srikrishna Committee, charging of any excess fee including capitation fee etc. has not been recommend. The Institutes can only charge tuition and development fee.
AICTE has urged students and parents to pay only the fee mentioned in the Prospectus of the institutions for consideration of admission through advertisement/public notice from time to time and not pay any extra fee being asked on the name of capitation fee etc.
May lead to Withdrawal of Approval of the Education Institute
As a word of warning to the engineering institutes, the reply from MHRD minister stated that “Any institution reported to be charging capitation fee shall be liable for punitive action including withdrawal of approval under the Approval Process Hand Book.” Agitated Students and Parents can send complaints to the Grievance Redressal Committee of the institution and if they are not satisfied by the decision of the Committee they can send an appeal to the Ombudsman regarding the same issue.
