TN govt warns engg colleges against collecting capitation fee

the government has set up a five-member committee which would visit colleges against whom complaints were received about collection of capitation fee and recommend suitable action, higher education minister k ponmudi told reporters. speaking after chairing a meeting of vice chancellors of state universities and other top academicians here, he said capitation fee had been banned by the supreme court and colleges violating the order would be de-affiliated. he also said the colleges should not collect more than the prescribed tuition fee of rs 32,500 under government quota and rs 62,500 per year under the management quota. the five member committee would include vice chairman of the tamil nadu state council for higher education (tansche) a. ramasamy, madras university vice chancellor s ramachandran, and tansche member secretary s baskaran. the names of other two members were yet to be finalised, ponmudi said adding the committee would jointly work with students' bodies, parents-teachers association and the police. tamil nadu has around 350 engineering colleges offering over 1.5 lakh seats and the admissions, under a single window system, are set to commence later this month.