Students of private engineering college stage a dharna against the fee-hike near the Nepal House secretariat. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, April 9: Students of three private engineering colleges are caught between the devil and the deep sea after the management decided to implement an abrupt fee-hike before the examinations.

Over 2,000 students were up in arms against the respective management, the state science and technology department and Ranchi University (RU) for their alleged indifferent attitude and staged a dharna outside Nepal House.

However, the institutes in question — Cambridge Institute of Technology, Tatisilway, Alice Institute of Technology, Getalsud, Ranchi, and RVS College of Engineering, Jamshedpur — are “following a government notification issued by the state science and technology department last year”.

The order to increase the annual fee to Rs 38,800 followed recommendations by Justice Gurusharan Sharma Committee constituted after a Supreme Court directive to assess the fee-structure of private engineering colleges in the state.

Though this recommendation was to be implemented in the 2004-05 session, it was only in 2006 that colleges received the notification. Now, students have to pay over Rs 1 lakh to clear the arrears before filling up the examination forms.

A meeting chaired by state science and technology minister C.P. Choudhary ended with no logical solution. “What can we do? If the state decides to lower the fee then we will face the court’s wrath,” Choudhary said.

Experts opined that students have no option but to approach the court or send a proposal to the government to bear the cost.