The Bombay High Court had last September said that the credibility of the selection process to the medical and engineering courses in Bharati Vidyapeeth was questionable. But thanks to Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, the chancellor of the Vidyapeeth will now be deciding the fee structure of all the private institutes in the state offering these courses.Tangrao Kadam, Vidyapeeth’s chancellor, will now head a cabinet sub-committee to negotiate the fee structure for the courses with managements of private colleges.Kadam, also Maharashtra Industries Minister, is not alone in the controversial list of appointees. Shinde’s committee of three has two more tainted members: Labour Minister Satish Chaturvedi and Irrigation Minister Padmasinh Patil.Patil is the head of the Terna Public Trust, the officials of which were caught on tape negotiating capitation fees. Chaturvedi was embroiled in a recent controversy when his Tilak Jankalyan Shikshan Sanstha attempted to acquire a prime plot owned by Nagpur University. So how can these ministers head the committee? ‘‘They are my cabinet colleagues and are responsible ministers. Besides, their role will be limited to informal discussions with the managements of the institutes,’’ said Shinde.Surprisingly, the ministers of the concerned departments — Medical Education Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar and Technical Education Minister Dilip Valse-Patil — have not found a place in the committee. As expected, a section of the Cabinet is angry with Shinde. ‘‘This is not a Cabinet decision. He alone decided the committee and selected members. We were just informed. What signal will it send to the people?’’ asked a Cabinet member. Shinde said the government will soon approach the Supreme Court challenging parts of the High Court verdict.
