IKGPTU hikes fee, doesn’t reflect on portal; SC pupils worried over refund

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, November 27

Scheduled Caste students of colleges affiliated to IK Gujral Punjab Technical University are a worried lot. Even though the university had hiked the fee in the current academic year, the revised fee structure is not reflecting on the online portal of the state government through which they seek reimbursement of the amount under the SC Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) Scheme.

The students from the Dalit community have expressed concern, saying that there could be a dispute over the amount of fee at a later stage, since they were not in a position to pay any difference at a later stage.

The total university fee for a B Tech course for four years was Rs 16,000 which has now been increased to Rs 34,500 and is thus more than double the previous amount. The college fee component was Rs 3,08,800 (for four years) which has now been increased to Rs 3,42,600.

Likewise, BBA/BCA university fee was Rs 11,250 (for three years) till last year and has now been increased to Rs 26,000. The college fee component which was 1,25,100 (for all three years) has gone up to 1,30,200.

Students from a Jalandhar-based college said they had apprised the college authorities of the matter but they too were unaware. “We had taken admission in August. There seems to be some misunderstanding between the university and the Social Welfare Department regarding the fee revision issue on the portal”, the students said.

Vice-Chancellor of the IKGPTU Dr Susheel Mittal said, “We revised the fee after the approval by the Board of Governors headed by the Principal Secretary of the Technical Education Department. We have completed all formalities regarding the revision of fee from our end.”

Justifying the fee hike, the VC said, “The fee had not been revised for the past nearly 16 years while the salary component and other expenses had been multiplied many times. Our budget is under a deficit of Rs 30 crore per annum for the past three years. We had to take this harsh step.”