Gandhinagar, March 12: A DAY after announcing the schedule for the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET), the State Government introduced two Bills in the Assembly on Monday, seeking to put to rest the annual uncertainty surrounding admission to professional courses. With the passage of the Bills, the R J Shah Committee would cease to exist, replaced by a new system as prescribed by rules to be framed under the new laws. The two Bills - The Gujarat Professional Technical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Bill, 2007, and The Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Bill, 2007 - were presented on the floor of the House by Education Minister Anandiben Patel and Health Minister Ashok Bhatt respectively.
The Bills, once passed into Acts, would regulate the fee structure and admissions to professional technical and medical education institutes in the State. The Bills seek to ensure that unaided educational colleges charge a just and reasonable fee. For this, an admissions committee and a fee regulatory committee are proposed in the Bills.
By bringing these bills, the Government is fulfilling Supreme Court guidelines mentioned in its judgement in the case of P A Inamdar and others v/s State of Maharashtra and others of 2005. The SC verdict had asked state governments to bring their own legislations, and pending such enactments, to set up admissions and fee regulatory committees. In the absence of any such regulatory legislation, the Justice R J Shah Committee has been regulating the admission process and the fee structures for unaided professional technical and medical education colleges.
Under the new system, the State Government would have control over the procedure as it would nominate all members of the free regulatory committee. Apart from the chairman (a retired High Court judge), the committee would comprise of a former Vice-Chancellor, Commissioner (Technical Education)/(Health), one representative of the unaided professional institutions, and a chartered accountant. The proposed legislations, however, do not meet the long-held demand of parents to be represented on the fee committees.
While the Bills are mum on how they would speed up system of admissions after HSC results are announced in May, officials in Health and Education Department said following the enactment of the laws, rules would be framed which would provide details of the admissions procedure to be followed.
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