College seats go to top bidders

College seats for medicine and engineering, the most coveted by Indian students, are being sold to the highest bidders in Maharshtra. Bribes are not only being openly demanded, they have jumped from Rs200,000 to a cool Rs2 million.

Rather than go by the merit of a student, authorities of private colleges in the state, mostly owned by politicians and ministers, are embroiled in a game of plain extortion - admitting students who are willing to pay what is demanded.

A national daily which investigated this scandal came up with startling facts on how these institutions are manipulating last year's Supreme Court ruling that private colleges are free to decide on the fees without interference from the government though it barred any capitation fees being taken.

The investigative team from Indian Express, a reporter, a dummy student and a cameraman, "equip-ped with a concealed camera walked into four colleges in Navi Mumbai without appointments, mark sheets or any hindrances, to bargain with principals," states the newspaper.

Talking to P.T. Deshmukh, Director of Terna Public Charitable Trust run by Padmasinh Patil, the state irrigation minister, the Express team bargained on the price of the seat.

"A medical seat costs Rs2.7 million. It will be Rs3.2 million in a few days, you wait," states Deshmukh, according to the Express.

The seats were even booked for next year, states the paper.

From the same college, Vidyadhar Kulkarni, an academic co-ordinator, told the Express, "We are now collecting the entire fees for the four and a half year course, which is Rs627,000.

"Even the Rs2.7 million fee is justifiable as it was supposed to be charged for Non-Resident Indians. Going by the value of the rupee, it is quite reasonable for a foreign student. We are not hiding anything."

Most of the 137 private engineering and 17 private medical colleges that would be taking around 200,000 students this year have been emboldened by the Supreme Court ruling though they have to submit the fee structure either to the Medical Education Regulatory Authority or Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority of Maharashtra.

Whilst some engineering colleges have decided on fees for engineering courses to be between Rs60,000 and Rs100,000 per year for the management quota seats, the Express team found others charging Rs250,000 to Rs1 million. All these lumpsum payments are over and above the annual fees that the students have to pay to the college.

Whilst government-run colleges are always in demand, none of them can accommodate the growing waves of students clamouring for medical or engineering seats.

Compared to the reservation for various categories of students, like scheduled castes/tribes, from this year onwards, except for the management quota of 15 per cent, there are no reservations, leaving private college authorities to do exactly what they want, Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education told Gulf News.

His colleague, Bhagwanji Rayani, says that a petition he had filed against malpractices in admissions in 1998 will come up for final hearing in the Mumbai High Court on Monday or Tuesday. " I plan to submit the Express investigation as proof of my arguments," he says.