BANGALORE: The Congress on Friday said the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2006 was discriminatory and against the interests of poor students and demanded its withdrawal. Opposing the Bill, party members staged a walkout in the Legislative Assembly.

Leader of the Opposition N. Dharam Singh said that the Bill had not addressed the issue of different criteria for admissions to engineering and medical colleges.

While admissions to engineering colleges would be made on the basis of marks obtained in both the Common Entrance Test (CET) and the second year pre-university examination, only the CET marks would be considered for admissions to medical and dental colleges. The relevance of the pre-university course would be lost and injustice would done to students from rural areas if medical and dental seats were filled on the basis of CET marks only, he said.

Anomalies seen

There were several anomalies in the Bill, and it was unclear on fee structure and seat matrix. The Bill had been prepared without consulting the Opposition.

Mr. Singh said the Government had reduced the number of seats available under concessional fee from 50 per cent to 35 per cent in medical and dental colleges. The Bill would not benefit Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class students.

`No social justice clause'

M. Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress) said there was no clause in the Bill to ensure social justice. A solution prescribed was only for this year and there was discrimination in fee structure for seats allotted by the CET Cell. The Government should have fixed a uniform fee for seats coming under its quota. The Government had succumbed to the terms set by private college managements, he charged and demanded the withdrawal of the Bill.

The House witnessed heated arguments between the Treasury and Opposition benches for a while when the latter pressed for a division of votes on the Bill. Speaker Krishna rejected the demand and told Minister for Higher Education D.H. Shankaramurthy to reply to clarifications sought by members.

But the Congress members walked out of the House shouting slogans against the Government.

`Against court rulings'

Earlier, J.C. Madhuswamy (JD-U) said many clauses in the Bill went against Supreme Court verdicts. There was every possibility of the Bill being struck down by the Supreme Court.

Ramesh Kumar (Congress) G.V. Srirama Reddy (CPI-M) and Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali) also criticised the Bill and demanded its withdrawal. The Bill should be referred to a joint select committee for detailed consideration, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said.

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