The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Disband Mohammed panel, says Chandy

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Disband Mohammed panel, says Chandy

Special Correspondent

Terms the pact with self-financing professional institutions on fee structure illegal

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Wednesday alleged that the State government’s agreement with certain self-financing professional institutions on the fee structure was illegal and wanted the government to disband the P.A. Mohammed Committee.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Chandy said the High Court was yet to give verdict on last year’s agreement and the stay still continued. Under Section 6 (c) of Professional Self-Financing Colleges Act, passed by the LDF government, only the committee appointed by the government had the powers to decide on the fee structure in self-financing institutions. During the last three years of LDF rule, none of these institutions admitted students to government seats.

He said that the LDF government’s decision to cancel the law brought in by the A.K. Antony government to ensure the 50:50 ratio in government and management seats was the root cause for the current mess. The courts had upheld the 50:50 norm and had only struck down the fee structure, he pointed out.

Condemning the police assault on Kerala Students Union agitators, he alleged that the LDF government had taken a conscious decision to divert public attention from its failure in the higher education sector by allowing police attacks against students’ organisations owing allegiance to the opposition.

Mr. Chandy demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the new proposals of the health insurance scheme. The LDF government had now formulated a scheme which envisages involvement of private insurance companies, he said.

The conditions of the scheme is also dubious as it seeks to give insurance cover for treatment in government hospitals, where treatment is already free. Mr. Chandy wanted to know whether the LDF government had decided to reject Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology status for Cochin University of Science and Technology. He said the CUSAT had already been handed over to the Centre and Rs.25 crore had been paid in advance from a budgetary allocation of Rs.513.83 crore in this year’s budget.

The Opposition Leader also criticised the Kerala University authorities for their failure to produce answer-sheets of the assistant grade examinations. He said the examinations for appointments to the post and its valuation were held during his tenure of Chief Minister and when the UDF had a majority in the varsity Syndicate. Now, the Syndicate is dominated by the LDF and it was its responsibility to produce the answersheets before the Lok Ayukta.

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