Eamcet counselling not before July 1

* Tough job ahead for Rajanarasimha * Colleges threaten to drag the govt to court on fee fixation * Task Force reports the only way out? * Can State govt rein in engg colleges lobby?

BH Ramakrishna

The worst fears of engineering aspirants appear to have come true as the counselling schedule is getting delayed again and according to well-placed sources, there is no chance of holding first phase counselling before June 26, the date informed informally by the Higher Education Council. It is not possible even before July 1 as a notification has to be released at least one week ahead of the counselling. The notification shall precede a decision on fixation of fee structure for each college, which may take another at least two weeks, sources said.

The delay in fee fixation had ruined the course schedule of over three lakh engineering students last year. The litigant private engineering colleges have once again got prepared to counter the government's strategies on fee fixation. "This year, we will not compromise. It is increasingly difficult for us to run the colleges with the cost escalation on power tariff, salaries, transportation etc.

The government is also not cooperative in a sense that it has not been releasing our reimbursement dues on date. The first quarter's dues are being disbursed at the time of end of academic year. Under these circumstances, how can we run the institutions?" a top functionary of Consortium of Private Professional Engineering College Managements ( CoPPECoM) has asked. We will fight it out in the court till the bench decides on the structure, he told The Hans India.

But they may have to face an awkward situation on their claims as most of them were said to be incorrect, according to latest observations of the AFRC. "They tried to mislead the Task Force teams earlier and AFRC this time. Moreover, the figures shown in the returns submitted to AFRC were totally different from that of Task Force reports. The college managements have reportedly failed to answer the variance.

The expenditure shown in 'other miscellaneous' category was 'unexpectedly high and definitely not in tune with the actuals,' an official told The Hans India. The figures on running expenditure were jacked up by many-folds. "Majority of colleges mentioned that they have been paying sixth pay commission-recommended salaries to their teaching staff which is utterly false. Leave alone, sixth pay commission; they have not even paying the fifth pay commission pay scales.

The highest salary of an assistant professor was between Rs 12,000-Rs 20,000 whereas the top rung colleges have shown it as more than Rs 35,000- Rs 40.000. Their claims on salaries to associate professors and professors were taller than what we expected" he said on condition of anonymity. The expenditure on transportation of students, placement arrangements, field visits, scholarships to meritorious candidates, donations etc were all fake with regard to many colleges" he explained.

Though the AFRC may not completely take cognizance of the data, it has to fix up a figure, which, according to expectations of the colleges, shall not be less than last year. The veracity of claims of each college can best be verified through the report of Task Force teams. But, the committee cannot completely rely on them either as most of the reports were also said to be 'managed and half-baked'.

After AFRC submits its report, most probably in another four-five days, the government has to look into it and it would be a tough job for Damodara Rajanarasimha to come to a view on it. He has to convince the Chief Minister too if the fee is enhanced as the issue has a bearing on reimbursement scheme. Whether he would fall prey to the pressure tactics of engineering colleges or prevail over the errant colleges remains to be seen. But for the Eamcet pass outs, it is likely to be another grueling year.