Nursing colleges get notice over excess fee collection

Nursing colleges get notice over excess fee collection 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 5.9.24

Bengaluru : Flooded by complaints over additional fees being collected from students seeking admission to nursing colleges, the admission overseeing committee has issued a notice to such institutions asking them to adhere to rules. As per Justice B Manohar, who heads the committee, there have been at least six written complaints and numerous phone calls regarding the same. Currently, the fee structure is Rs 10,000 for students admitted under the govt quota, Rs 1 lakh under management quota, and Rs 1.40 lakh for nonKarnataka students. “Some colleges have been demanding up to Rs 1 lakh for govt quota seats. They charge the excess fee under additional heads like uniform and transport. 

When I interacted with the principals and said that the students do not need transport, they came up with excuses like the students will have to be taken to the hospital. These explanations cannot be accepted. Colleges will have to adhere to the rules,” said Justice Manohar. 

“Demanding and collection of any amount over and above the fee prescribed by govt is contrary to law and ex ploitation of the students. As you are all aware that under the consensual agreement between the state govt and the association of private nursing colleges, the fee payable by the students, both under govt quota seats and private quota seats, are fixed by the state govt,” said the notice. Any demand for amount over and above the fee prescribed by the govt is not only contrary to the provisions of the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1984, but also the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, the notice dated Sept 4,2024 said, adding that action will be taken in accordance with the law. 

“The govt should address the practice of private nursing colleges requiring local students to stay in hostels and forcibly, collecting hostel fees . This includes cases where students are threatened, saying their admit cards will be withheld. Action should be taken against such  coercive practices,” said Mithesh Kumar Moodukonaje of National PreUniversity Students, Parents and Teachers’Association. He requested KEA to publish full list of students, who are allotted seats, to ensure transparency in admissions