No consensus on PU over hike in course fee

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21

Members of the Panjab University Syndicate today differed on a hike in the fee of traditional and self-finance courses. After a three-hour discussion, they failed to come to a consensus. So the recommendation of the committee on tuition fee will now be placed before the Senate at a meeting on March 26 for its final nod. There has been a hike of five to six times in traditional courses and 12 to 13 times in self-finance courses.

The Syndicate meeting was chaired by Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Arun Kumar Grover. During the meeting, the members pointed out that the committee had proposed that the fee concession would be given to students of government schools. But there were rural areas where there was no government school. So instead of giving it to the students of government schools, it should be given only to students from the economically weaker sections. They suggested that the committee should reconsider this term.

The members said the Central and the state governments were not bearing the financial burden of the university due to which the authorities were forced to propose the hefty hike. Since the syndicate was not unanimous on fee hike, it was decided to refer the issue to the Senate for the final nod.

In fact, the 15-point agenda which the Panjab University Campus Students Council had mooted was also discussed by the members during the meeting. But the members found that these proposals would not generate much revenue for the university.

As per the proposal of the fee hike, the slab will be imposed only on students who are freshers. For the old students, the previous slabs of minimum Rs 500 to a maximum of Rs 1,200 annual hike will be imposed for the next academic session.