IIT hikes fees for its undergrad programmes

New Delhi: New entrants to the undergraduate course in IITs will have to pay Rs 90,000 per annum, a hike of 80 per cent over existing fee, from this year.

The IITs Governing Council today approved the hike in tuition fee for undergraduate students from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000 per year with effect from this year and the government accepted the recommendation of the Group of Directors and Empowered Task Force in this regard. The empowered task force had considered the details for implementation of the Kakodkar Committee which had recommended last year a steep hike of Rs 2-2.5 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 50,000. This was strongly opposed at that time. The Group of Directors of IITs and Empowered Task Force had revised the downwards the recommendations. HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju said the the Group of Directors of IITs and Empowered Task Force had recommeded a revision of fee and the revised rates will applicable to the new entrants to the undergraduate programmes. The fee may be revised periodically, he added. After the 46th meeting of Council of IITs here, Raju said that at present, the undergraduate students pay an annual tuition fee of Rs 50,000. The fee was last revised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 per annum from the academic session 2008-09. "No tuition fee is charged from the students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. A number of other facilities like free mess, free hostel facility and free book bank facilities are available to SC and SC students," the Minister told reporters here. PTI