GOVT ORDER

MUMBAI: Close to four months after the state government derecognised technical diploma courses as professional ones, a recent government resolution (GR) stated that colleges offering such courses will continue to be governed by the Fee Regulating Authority (FRA).

The FRA, under the Directorate of Technical Education, is responsible for regulating the fees of all unaided private professional colleges in the state.

The GR was in reply to a query by FRA in July, on whether they still have to accept proposals of upgrading fees from technical institutes offering diploma courses, after they were denotified from the list of professional courses in the same month.

“According to the law, FRA only regulates the fees of private professional colleges in the state. Since these courses are not professional on paper, we sought clarity from the government on our jurisdiction,” said a senior official from FRA.

In June, the state government made it compulsory for students from reserved categories applying for professional courses to submit original caste certificates at the time of admission.

Until then, these students

were allowed to submit their caste certificates within three to six months of their admission.

“Students opting for professional courses apply for caste certificates when they are in Class 12 whereas diploma applicants are all Class 10 pass outs and it was becoming difficult for them to get certificates. The government

had therefore denotified diploma courses from the list of professional courses,” said Aniket Ovhal, Mumbai secretary for Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who had sought respite for the current academic year.

The GR clearly stated that diploma courses, despite not

having the ‘professional course’ on paper, will remain professional in every other manner.

“These courses are professional in nature and will remain under the purview of FRA and the state admissions authority for fee regulation as well as admissions,” stated the GR, released on October 31.