Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APHERMC) has taken a serious note of non-compliance of the rule book by educational institutions and issued a set of regulations with a warning of stringent action against the violators.
In a statement, APHERMC member secretary and CEO N. Rajasekhar Reddy said that the panel had been receiving complaints from students, parents, faculty members and the public in general about collection of excess fee (under various unauthorised heads such as project work, seminars and placement training) than what was notified by the government and refusal to return original certificates to students, threatening them that they would not be allowed to write the examinations.
He said there were also accusations with regard to faculty recruitment, poor service conditions, non-payment or under-payment of salaries to the staff and their ill-treatment, forceful resignations and termination from service of the staff without following the due procedure. Students pursuing medicine and dental courses were either not paid the stipend at all or they were partly paid.
Dr. Reddy said there were also reports that some managements had not been following the merit order while admitting students under management and NRI quota, and demanding more fee under the garb of building fund and campus development fund, besides collecting exorbitant charges from students opting for hostel and transport facilities.
Dr. Reddy urged the managements to visit the APHERMC website (www.aphermc.ap.gov.in) and strictly follow the rules, which mandate display of detailed fee structure (year-wise and course-wise) notified by the government on their notice boards prominently and attend to the grievances of students, and send the compliance report to the commission in a time-bound manner.
The managements have also been warned against withholding the original certificates of students after the completion of their course and collection of excess fee.
Punishable offence
“Collecting higher fee than the prescribed amount is punishable under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1938 and the APHERMC Act 20 of 2019,” Dr. Reddy pointed out.
He said the managements should desist from collecting fee in advance from students who are eligible for full fee reimbursement under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme.
Surprise visits
Dr. Reddy said the commission would conduct surprise visits, interact with students and verify the records. Any discrepancy would attract penalisation and the university concerned would withdraw affiliation to the institution in question.
