Ramadoss questions TN minister on surrender of seats

Chennai, Jun 27 (UNI) Pattali Makkak Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S Ramadoss today joined issue with Tamil Nadu Minister for Higher Education K Ponmudi, over surrender of seats by self-financing professional colleges to government quota, and the fee structure.

In a statement here, the PMK leader asked as to why the Minister could not sign an agreement with the Consortium of Self-Financing colleges, if he claimed that they had agreed for a 65.35 per cent system and an agreement was to be signed on June 26.

Dr Ramadoss also wanted to know why the Minister diluted his stand after stating that students seeking admission to private colleges under the government quota would be made to pay the fee in a bank in Anna University itself.

He said Mr Ponmudi, who had initially said that the government would sign an agreement with the self-financing colleges on seat sharing, backed out after Consortium Chairman Jeppiaar, citing pendency of a case in the Supreme court, said that he would not sign the agreement.

He wondered how the Minister was not aware of the pendency of the case. It was amazing that the Justice Balasubramaniam Commission, established by the state government to decide the fee structure was also not aware of the pendency of the case, he added.

Dr Ramadoss said if the Minister says that 165 of the 278 self-financing colleges in the state agreed to surrender 65 per cent of the seats for the government quota, it was clear that the remaining 113 colleges have not agreed for the arrangement.

The state government should identify these colleges, which refused to fall in line with other colleges and who were behind these colleges, he said.

The PMK leader wondered why the government was reluctant to take action against colleges, which collected exhorbitant fees. If the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi himself had admitted that some of the private colleges collected fees above the rates fixed by the government, why not the government initiate action against them, he asked.

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