PMK urges Commission not to fix fee structure hurriedly

Chennai, May 29 (UNI) Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S Ramadoss today said the Justice Balasubramaniyam Commission, constituted by the Tamil Nadu Government to fix the fees in self financing Engineering Medical colleges should not hurry in fixing the fee structure.

Reacting to reports that the Commission has finalised the fee structure for admission under Government quota, the PMK leader, in a statement, here said, as the counselling for admission commences only in July, the Commission should take its own time before arriving at any decision.

The Commission should widen its consultations, he said and suggested that it should hold talks with students, parents and various political parties and elicit their views before fixing the fees.

When there was a demand to lower the fees fixed last year, the Commission should not concede the demand of the self financing colleges and hike the fee, he said. If the Commission allowed the fees to be raised, the people would get agitated, he warned.

The Commission should not bother about the fees structure in other States as ''we do not follow all that are in force in other States. There are some exceptions and education fee structure is one such exception'', Dr Ramadoss said.

Forgetting the fact that education was a noble service, many of them have converted their Institutions as profit making companies, he said.

As nearly 95 per cent of the Engineering colleges and 60 per cent of the Arts and Science colleges were in the hands of private parties, the poor and middle class families could not get higher education, he lamented.

UNI WS KVV RL PM1930