The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Government should take over deemed universities: Ramadoss

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Government should take over deemed universities: Ramadoss

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE, JUNE 27. The Pattali Makkal Katchi founder, S. Ramadoss, today urged the State government to take over the administration of all 10 deemed universities. He said while self-financing colleges were under the control of Anna University, the deemed universities were functioning as `Thanikkattu rajas' and there was no control over admission of students or levy of fees in these institutions.

Talking to newspersons here, Dr. Ramadoss said that every year more than 4,000 students were being admitted to deemed universities and 75 per cent of them belonged to other States and countries. A particular deemed university in Vellore, started in 1984 as an educational public welfare trust on a piece of government land given on a 99-year lease to provide higher education to poor students hailing from the backward, undivided North Arcot district, was now "admitting students mostly from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and foreign countries such as Uganda, in preference to those hailing from Vellore district or Tamil Nadu". He alleged that such deemed universities converted education into trade, collecting heavy fees under the garb of providing high quality education to higher income groups. It would be good if the government took over the administration of such deemed universities on a long lease, he said.

`CM to blame for confusion'

Dr. Ramadoss said it was wrong on the part of the government to have allowed the Consortium of Professional, Arts and Science Colleges to conduct its own entrance examination after Anna University conducted the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE). The government should have asked self-financing colleges to admit students against the management quota on the basis of TNPCEE marks. The Chief Minister alone was to blame for the confusion in the admissions to engineering and medical colleges this year.

On the consortium approaching the Madras High Court opposing the conditions laid down by the Permanent Committee for the Conduct of Common Entrance Test (Subramani Committee), Dr. Ramadoss said the committee itself in its counter described the consortium's action as a "breach of faith" since the consortium had agreed before the committee that it would abide by the conditions for conducting a common entrance test. Only after it agreed to the conditions did the committee think of granting consent to the holding of the test, according to the committee's counter-affidavit. The consortium had opposed two main conditions — reservation should be given to certain categories of students and admissions should be based on the single-window system. Another "mistake" committed by the government was to allow self-financing colleges to admit 50 per cent of students under the management quota as against the Karnataka's policy of retaining 75 per cent of seats for the government quota and giving 25 per cent to the management.

`Release White paper'

The PMK leader urged the government to release a White Paper on its financial position in the light of rumours that the World Bank had refused to provide loan to its projects.

Referring to a conference by lottery agents in Chennai on Sunday demanding reintroduction of the lottery scheme, Dr. Ramadoss said the PMK would resort to an agitation if the scheme was reintroduced.

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