No West Bengal private engineering colleges can fix fees above Rs 1.10 lakh: Report

NEW DELHI: West Bengal education department has decided to fix the fee structure for self-financing private engineering colleges in the state. “No private engineering college will be able to charge annual tuition fees above Rs 1.10 lakh,” the IANS reported.

As per the new fee structure, the private engineering colleges will be able to charge development fees, however, it should not exceed 15% of the tuition fees.

“The different one-time fees charged by these private engineering colleges should be under a limit. The one-time admission fee will also be fixed at Rs 10,000,” the report quoted the West Bengal educational department sources.

The report said that the library-related fee should not exceed Rs 6,000, which is also one-time and the students’ welfare fee also should not exceed Rs 1,000.

According to the new guidelines, private engineering colleges that have been granted autonomous status by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be given 10% relaxation to charge additional tuition fees.

It said that the new fee structure will be applicable for the four-year BTech and five-year BPharm courses.

In May last year, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) recommended engineering colleges to fix the BTech tuition not below Rs 79,600 or exceed Rs 1.89 lakh.

The committee, led by the former Supreme Court judge Justice Srikrishna had also proposed to not charge development fees not more than 15% of tuition fees.