Thiruvananthapuram: In a move apparently to safeguard the interests of private colleges, the government has restricted exemption in liquidated damages to students admitted to the state-run or aided self-financing engineering colleges migrating to other institutions after the completion of the admission procedures.
Students of private colleges discontinuing the course will have to pay Rs 75,000 as liquidated damages besides the annual fee for subsequent years as per a present decision.
The committee headed by higher education principal secretary Usha Titus finalising the entrance prospectus had recommended scrapping the liquidated damages clause seeking students to pay a certain amount to release their transfer certificates after admissions.
The All India Council for Technical Education had also directed the institutes not to withhold certificates of students.
AICTE-approval process handbook 2017-18 has a provision which directs engineering institutes to refund the fees if another candidate subsequently fills the seat falling vacant before the last date of admission.
The college can charge a processing fee of up to Rs 1,000 and proportionate monthly fee and hostel rent. The clause also prohibits the AICTE-approved technical institutes from retaining the TCs.
In case a student withdraws before the start of the course, the entire fee collected will have to be refunded after deducting the processing fee.
The present decision hence is a going back on the decisions of the prospectus committee and the AICTE and was said to be under pressure from the private players facing closure due to the lack of enrolments for the poor pass percentage.
