MUMBAI, JUNE 29: It was the state government which insisted that the high-powered committee on fee revision for engineering colleges increase the quota for NRI seats from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, the Bombay High Court noted today, after going through the report exhaustively. There was no justification for this, the bench of Justice A P Shah and Justice B H Marlapalle observed and remarked it was shocking and most unfortunate that the government would do so.The bench were hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the NRI quota increase from 5 to 15 per cent, even though less than 100 students applied for NRI seats last year. The other petitions had challenged the hike in the fee structure as well as the 30 per cent reservation for girl students.While no formal orders were passed today, the bench indicated its mind by saying it would not only declare the quota for NRI students tomorrow but also draw up guidelines on who exactly can be called an NRI student and would ensure that managements of engineering colleges would not be able to ``auction'' seats but would have to follow the merit criterion for selecting them.The bench, though, declared it would not interfere in the reservation policy for girl students and would not sit in judgement on the fee hike either, since it was a committee of experts which decided the fee structure. However, it ensured that the 30 per cent reservation for women would not be restricting more girl students from joining engineering courses.The bench - which had been submitted reports of the high-powered committee that decided the fee structure and had ostensibly ``recommended'' the increase in NRI quota to the state - had already gone through the report when the matter was called out today. Justice Shah remarked the report exposed the shocking state of affairs where it was mentioned that the first recommendation of the committee had not even a whisper of any increase in NRI quota. It was only after the Association of Private Engineering Colleges made a representation to the government that the recommendations should be reviewed on the NRI issue, the government accepted the plea and insisted the committee hike the NRI quota.The bench noted that the earlier fee hike of Rs 10,000 for free seats, Rs 46,000 for payment seats and Rs 1,57,500 for NRI seats was based on the assumption that an average cost of an engineering student is Rs 25,000 per year. However, when the same fees were revised to the now-accepted Rs 10,000 for free seat, Rs 40,000 for a payment seat and US $ 3,000 for an NRI seat, there was no change in the average cost per student!Justice Shah also remarked the report had no mention of any NRI quota for government or aided colleges.The bench made it clear that the oft-quoted SC judgement on ``management discretion in filling up unfilled NRI seats'' gave no licence to managements to ``auction seats''. They observed that since NRI seats were to help the ``economic aspects'' of colleges, there was no need to sacrifice merit towards it.The bench also compared the guidelines or absence of any such in deciding an NRI student and remarked that tomorrow's order would put in place proper guidelines. This could include rules to ensure NRI students would have to pass their qualifying exams in a foreign country.
