Guwahati, April 17: The Assam government has formed a committee to suggest how to implement a uniform fee structure in all government and provincialised colleges of the state.

The committee, which was formed last month, has the director of higher education as its chairperson and the principals of six colleges from different parts of the state are its members.

The colleges whose principals have been made a part of the committee are B. Borooah College, Guwahati, S.B. Deorah College, Guwahati, Bajali College, Barpeta, Lakhimpur Girls' College, CKB College, Jorhat and Ratnapith College, Dhubri.

The Telegraph had earlier reported that the BJP-led government was planning a uniform fee structure for colleges in Assam.

Sources said this step has been taken as the state government has received complaints about huge differences in fees of colleges under the same university or sometimes even in the same area. Organisations like the All Assam Students' Union have also been demanding uniform fees in colleges.

The committee held its first meeting here on April 10. It will again sit together in the last week of this month or the first week of May to finalise their suggestions to the government.

"Based on the suggestions, the state government will take a call so that the uniform fees can be implemented from the next academic session beginning in June," a source said.

A few years ago, the state government had asked the principals of colleges from different zones to suggest how the uniform fee structure could be implemented in their respective zones. But it could not be implemented because of opposition by the colleges.

One of the major points that was discussed in the April 10 meeting was that the fee structure could not be uniform for a college in a rural area and another in an urban area. So, the college principals suggested that there should be two separate fee structures for rural and urban areas.

There are 302 government and provincialised colleges in Assam. The colleges can determine some fees like college examination fee and maintenance fee on their own, which is why the fees differ from college to college.

The issue of making the fees uniform in colleges was taken up seriously after the BJP-led government came to power. Last year, Assam education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government had found that some colleges were charging exorbitant fees from students, which they failed to justify to the government.

The state government has already made college admission free for students belonging to families whose annual income is less that Rs 1 lakh. In the draft population policy, the government said it would make education free for girls up to the university level.

A college principal told The Telegraph that if the government provided regular funds to the colleges they would not have to depend on students' fee. "The fee we collect from students helps us run the college. The government should also think of giving regular funds to the colleges," the principal said.