MEIs sore over fee guidelines fixed by OU

​Hyderabad: Are Minority Educational Institutions (MEIs) in the State are diplomatic missions having immunity from all kinds of rules and regulations vis-a-vis their counterparts?

If the goings are of any indication, the ongoing tussle between the Private Educational Institutions (PEI) and State Higher Education Department (SHED), and the State universities has brought to the fore how the MEIs in the State are being treated with kid gloves.

According to SHED sources, about 19 degree colleges have knocked on the doors of courts refusing to follow the fee fixation guidelines issued by the Osmania University. 

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the SHED said the PEIs argue that they cannot run the colleges maintaining quality and standards with the fee fixed by the university. That apart, some colleges are collecting the fee to provide employability skills to their students so as to make them explore job opportunities in various corporate entities.
However, the SHED is not ready to buy this argument. 

“Because the affiliated degree colleges should follow the fee fixation guidelines issued by the universities concerned. The PEIs cannot collect fee at their whims and fancies citing one or the other reasons,” said a senior official from the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE). It is against this backdrop that the PEIs are alleging that the SHED and the universities were adopting discriminatory policies towards MEIs and PEIs.

Dismissing this, Director of Collegiate Education Navin Mittal said that the MEIs have exemption as they have special provisions under the Constitution to regulate their own affairs. They are also several court judgments’ on the same. Adding, this cannot be an excuse or a window for those PEIs to violate the fee fixation guidelines issued by the universities. Meanwhile, officials of the SHED, TSCHE, and several State universities are not on the same page on this issue. 

A senior official from the Osmania University said that MEIs cannot claim immunity from all the regulations, as if, they are diplomatic missions. The MEIs have to follow the norms on which they had obtained affiliation in running their colleges like any others, he said. However, fearing political pressure from the top, the SHED, TSCHE and the universities are not strictly enforcing norms, the sources said.

For example, some MEIs affiliated to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) are admitting students taking from the common pool through the EAMCET counseling. This makes the university under obligation to ensure students admitted to those MEIs get the quality education as per the JNTU-H norms. But, the MEIs are reluctant to have a university nominee on the selection panel for the appointment of faculty members to various courses. 

Following the PEIs allegations of unfair treatment towards them, officials are scratching their heads as to what extent and from what regulations the MEIs have immunity under the special provisions.