The intellectuals here have decried the hefty course fees, besides other irregularities, of the three-year-old Khallikote Cluster University.
They said that keeping in view the unaffordable admission fee of Rs 1, 20,000 each for six newly introduced PG courses the applicants’ number has been very few. The university has received only 91 applications for all the six PG courses as against the sanctioned intake of 144 seats this year.
Manav Adhikar Surakshya Manch (MASM) convener Abani Gaya and South Odisha Development Committee convener Rabi Rath have demanded that the admission fee be slashed.
Gaya and Rath further alleged that without taking the economic condition of the students of the region and the demand of individual course into account, the university syndicate had at the behest of the VC hiked the fee.
Notably, the Central University of Orissa and State run universities like, Samabalpur University and Utkal University, apart from three old leading private institutions in the State (SMIT, PNC, Bastia, Rourkela), for instance, charge between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000 for Master in library Science (MlISc) course whereas the State-run Khallikote University has fixed the fee at Rs 1,20,000.
On the other hand, the university administration has failed to enlist it under Section 12(b) of the UGC Act even after three years of its completion, thereby depriving the university to get grants from the UGC for various major research projects and assistance for its library and other infrastructural developments, sources said.
As a result, the new faculty members are not able to submit their research projects to UGC or any other Central Government funding agencies like UGC, DST, ICSSR, CSSIR, IHR, ICAR, etc for financial assistance.
Similarly, the accounts of Khallikote Autonomous College and the present Khallikote Cluster University (or Khallikote University) have not yet been separated, though the university is having an independent CoF on deputation from the Government, sources said.
Meanwhile, the PK Das Committee constituted by the Government to probe the irregularities in appointments in the university reportedly has submitted its report to the Chancellor-cum-Governor on Monday last, but that is yet to be made public.