CHENNAI: The Madras high court has granted an interim order restraining University of Madras from increasing the continuous provisional affiliation fee from the member colleges.
The university syndicate in February increased the fee. As per the new slab, every college should pay an affiliation fee of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 2,00,000 for every new undergraduate and postgraduate course they offer. For the second and third year, the college should pay Rs 25,000 per course (plus 18% GST).
Also, the university has told the colleges to pay this fee amount with retrospective effect from 2016. “Multiple colleges will have to pay huge sums totalling to crores of rupees in these difficult times,” said Vikas Surana, general secretary of the Association of Management of Private Colleges.
Many colleges are already under severe financial stress because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many institutions are unable to collect the already stipulated fee and student strength has drastically reduced, the association said in a letter to the university’s registrar.
The association said the move was against the university’s statute and the syndicate had no authority to increase fees without the approval of the senate of Chancellor. So, it moved the HC, which has stayed the collection of revised affiliation fees.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/high-court-restrains-madras-university-from-hiking-affiliation-fees/articleshow/91007496.cms
