Bhubaneswar, Jan. 16: The technical education department today ordered that the OJEE 2013 brochure must carry a footnote on the prohibition of capitation fee, a move that appears significant in the wake of suicide of an engineering student earlier this month.

The directive said that it should be brought to the information of public, guardians and students that the collection of excess fees, prescribed by the fee structure committee, was illegal and punishable by law.

A third-year student of Mahaveer Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sanjit Pattnaik, killed himself on January 2 for allegedly being harassed by the authorities for not been able to pay the fee.

In his suicide note, Sanjit mentioned that the college had debarred him from taking the test for non-payment of the excess capitation fee.

The matter had triggered protests among students and parents across the state demanding proper regulation in charging of capitation fee. This outcry forced the government to tighten the noose around erring colleges.

“Sanjit had deposited Rs 50,000 as his college fee, but the college charged extra fee of Rs 17,000, which he was unable to pay because of financial constraints,” said Biplab Prakash Mohanty, convenor of the All Odisha BPUT Students’ Association.