The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Interests of students will be protected'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

`Interests of students will be protected'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 22. The Minister for Higher Education, D. Manjunath, assured the Legislative Council today that the Government was committed to protecting the interests of poor meritorious students and would not succumb to any pressure on the issue of seat sharing with private college managements for professional courses.

Mr. Manjunath, who was responding to suggestions made by the members on the issue, said if the situation demanded the Government would convene an all-party meeting and adopt a resolution. It would approach the Union Government and request it to enact legislation to solve the problem, if required, he said.

The Leader of the Opposition, D.H. Shankaramurthy, said that the Government had failed to convince the Supreme Court about its case for seat sharing on a 75:25 basis. If the Government planned to help poor meritorious students by subsidising their fees, some provision had to be made in the Budget to come up with over Rs. 80 crores.

The Leader of the House, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, said the financial commitment of the Government would be over Rs. 200 a year, which was not an easy task.

P. Ramiah (nominated), who was in the Chair, observed that there were suggestions that the problem could be addressed if the Government increased the intake in its colleges.

The former Minister H.K. Patil said that despite adequate infrastructure the intake of some private institutions had been curtailed. A medical college in Belgaum, which could accommodate 200 students, had its intake restricted to 50.

The fee structure suggested by the A.B. Murgod committee was not pragmatic. The Government should send a high-level delegation to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to seek an Ordinance on the issue, he said.

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