District : PASCIIIM BURDWAN IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA | CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE W.P. A No.3028 of 2024 In the Matter of:- ‘An application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. -And- In the Matter of :- Debajyoti Dey and Ors. «Petitioners -Versus- State of West Bengal &Ors. > ..u.Respondents ‘Affidavit in opposition on behalf of the Respondent no.2. I, Bidisha Mukherjee, daughter of Late Debendra Mohan Mukherjee, aged about 55 years, by faith Hindu, by occupation Service, working for gain as Additional Director of Technical Education to the Government of West Benge! having office at Bikash Bhavan, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091,do hereby solemnly state and follows:1. Lam the authori ‘ed representative of the respondent no 2 and | have made myself acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the present case after going through the records, [ am competent and duly authorized to im this affidavit on behalf Of the respondent referred to above. v + T have gone through the contents of writ petition bearing no, WPA no-3028 of 2024, said to have been affirmed by one Debajyoti Dey on or about 06.02.2024 (hereinafter referred to as the said petition) and understood the contents and purport thereof. 3. I have been advised to deal with only those allegations and/or contentions and/ or statements made in the said petition which are material for the purpose of proper adjudication and disposal of the same. Save and except what have been specifically admitted by me herein and save what would appear from the relevant records, all the allegations made in the said petition shall be deemed to have been set forth seriatim and denied specifically. 4. Without prejudice to the preliminary obj ion as above but very much relying on the same, I shall deal with the allegations made in the writ petition.I state the following facts/ factors for proper adjudication of the issues involved in the writ petition i. The matter is related to Fee Revision of self financing Undergraduate Engineering = & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture programs in the State of West Bengal. ii, Vide G.O No. 466-Edn(T) dated 16.10.2023, the State Government in Higher Education Department has revised the fee structure of Engineering & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture programs conducted by the private self-financing Engineering & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture colleges of West Bengal. First year (2023-2027 batch, B. Tech program) students of Dr. B.C. Roy Engineering College — a private self-financing engineering college has filed this petition against the fee revision imposed by the college. They pray for withdrawal of the said Government Order vide No. 466-Edn(T) dated 16.10.2023. I, With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. | to 6 of the said petition I say that those are matters of record anda anything contrary to and/or inconsistent with the record is denied and disputed by me. . With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 7 of the said petition I say that in terms of the said order 466-Edn(T) dated 16.10.2023, the revised Fee Structure will take effect from the date of notification i.e. 16.10.2023. Hence the State Government has not allowed to take the enhanced fees in first semester as the classes of 1 Semester has already been started from the month of September, 2023. With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 8 of the said petition I say that those are matters of record. However, it may be stated that the fees of Undergraduate Engineering & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture programs conducted by the private self-financing Engineering & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture colleges of this State has been revised after 2016. It may be stated that, after academic session 2016-17, no fee revision has been made. Such fee has been revised by the Fees Structure Committee chaired by Hon'ble Justice (Retired) Sri Pradipta Ray, following the instruction of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, This may further be mentioned that the enhanced fees structure is still lower than the fe AIC s structure proposed by the National Fee Commitee of 2 in 2021 under the chairmanship of Justice § ikrishna, Former Justice, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, omey B a? Go . With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 9-10 of the said petition I say that those are matters of record. . With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 11 of the said petition I say that the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in the case of Islamic Academy of Education and Another vs State of Karnataka(Writ Petition (Civil)350 of 1993) and Ors made the recommendation in consonance with direction made by the same Court in TMA Pai Foundation vs State of Karnataka and Ors[{Writ petition(Civil) 317 of 1993], for the constitution of a Fee Structure Committee for determination of fee structure of the professional courses conducted in Private and Self-financing institutes of the State. Therefore, the State Government in Higher Education Department., vide Memo No. 826-Edn(T) dated 18.10.2004, has been pleased to constitute a Fee Structure Committee with Hon’ble Justice Pradipta Ray, Judge, Calcutta High Court (Retired), as the Chairman of the ‘Committee. This is to be noted that Justice Ray has been appointed by the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. Hence it may be stated that regulation? of AICTE has been complied with. Photocopy of the memo dated 18.10.2004 is annexed herewith and marked as “R-1”.nig made in paragraph no. 12 of f the notification vide No. have been 10.With reference to the stateme’ the said petition I say that in terms 0 466-Edn(T) dated 16.10.2023, the colleges ructed to strictly follow the revised maximum fee structure inst stipulated by the State Government in the said order. It has been categorically mentioned in the Order466-Edn(T) om the date 0.2023 that the Order will take effect fr he college in question has charged ent be considered as a dated 16.1 of notification. If t fee with retrospective ¢! violation of Government Order. hanced ffect, then this may he said Order, the concerned affiliating Moreover, vide th mic Audit and University has to conduct and evaluate Acade Performance to ensure that the desired quality of education is available in and provided by the said self-financing colleges and will submit report interval for the purpose of suitable Ranking System for sclf- to the State Government at a regular financing Engineering & Technology/ Pharmacy/ Architecture colleges in the State. 11. With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 13 tol6 of the said petition I say that those are matters of record and anything contrary to and/or inconsistent with the record is ring No. denied and disputed by me. However, vide Memo bear 466-Edn(T) dated 16.10.2023, the revised fee structure will take effect from the date of notification i.e. 16.10.2023.12. With reference to the statements made in paragraph no. 17 of the said petition the same are denied and disputed save and except what are matters of record and | repeat and reiterate the statement made in para 9 of the instant opposition. However, it is denied that the Notification dated 16.10.2023 has been issued violating Regulation 7(5) of the All India Council for Technical Education (Norms and Guidelines for fees and guidelines for admissions in professional colleges) Regulation, 1994, as alleged or at all. 13.With reference to the statements made in paragraph no.18 to 21 of the said petition the same are denied and disputed save and except what appears from the records. It is specifically denied that the impugned notification dated 16.10.23 does not comply with Regulation 7(6) of the Regulation of 1994. It is further denied that the impugned notification has violated the Regulation by imposing fees for each and every semester. I say that the term of the said Committee has been extended time to time with the concurrence of Finance Department, Government of West Bengal. The following terms are: (1) The fee structure of self-financing Engineering & — Technology/ —_ Pharmacy/Architecture colleges of the State last time has been revised in the year 2016 vide G.O No. 426-Edn(T) dated 17.06.2016. ‘Thereafter, the StateGovernment in Higher Education Department. adopted the same fees structure (as stipulated in the year 2016) for the academic year 2018- 19 vide G.O No. 429-Edn(T) dated 22.06.2018. (2)The said fee structure was applicable and followed up to the academic year 2022-23. (BYAs per discussion held in the Fee Structure oA Committee meeting held on 25.07.2019, 3 member Expert Committee was constituted by Higher Education Department. vide No. 340-T dated 15.11.2019 to scrutinize the relevant documents and information to assess the necessity of revision of fee structure regarding private self-financing degree level Engineering &Technology/Pharmacy/Architecture colleges of West Bengal. (4) Working process of Expert Committee: (i) Accordingly, the Committee initially made a detailed analysis of 60 members of private engincering colleges with the information ofGi) (iii) (iv) (vi) infrastructure (classroom, tutorial rooms, laboratories and faculty strength) admission data and placement. Financial data analysis for F.Y 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 could be done on the basis of available financial data. Such items of income and expenditure were considered as eligible for financial analysis as per prescribed in Srikrishna Committee recommendation 2021. The Fee Structure Committee directed the Expert Committee to hear the views/comments from the representatives of private Engineering colleges on the analysis/conclusion reached by the Expert Committee. Accordingly, the Expert Committee members met with the representatives of private engineering colleges. The representatives of the said colleges gave their views on the matter of fee structure. It was mentioned by some of them that no institute will be able to offer quality education at lower costs as the expenditure has gone up to maintain required standard, which has been mostly due toimplementation of AICTE/UGC 7" Pay Commission salary structure for the teaching faculty. It was also mentioned by them that AICTE is insisting on the implementation of new pay scale to all faculty and non-faculty human resources. (5)Expert Committee has considered the following components for calculative projected Annual Tuition Fee per student (based on methodology adopted by the Srikrishna Committee report 2021): (a) Cost of human resources (b) Cost of learning resources (c) Cost of IT infrastructure (d) Infrastructure operational cost (@) Miscellaneous cost The projected tuition fee has been calculated as per Srikrishna Committee Report on fee structure 2021, taking into consideration of the following:(a) In calculation of human resources cost, average salary of regular full time faculty as per AIC norms and existing order of the State Government has been considered. (b)Salary of full time regular faculty as per Order No. 11-Edn(T) dated 07.01.2020 has been considered. (©)DA and HRA as per existing order of the State Government has been considered. (d)The salary of non-teaching staff has been considered @30% on total cost of full time faculty, (©)FSR (faculty-student ratio) is 1:20 as per AICTE norms. (f) Lateral Entry seats have been considered. (g)In calculation of cost of learning resources, IT, operational and miscellaneous, methodology adopted by Srikrishna Committee Report, 2021 and AICTE norms has been followed. (6)The Committee has analyzed the proposed maximum fee per annum @Rs.1,10,000/- (without Development Fee) per student.12 (7)Based on the recommendation of the report of National Fees Committee 2020-21 (a committee constituted by AICTE under the Chairmanship of Justice Sri Krishna, former Justice, Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to review the exiting fee structure and to fit norms and guidelines for charging tuition and other fees) and considering the salary and all allowance towards the teaching and non- teaching staff as per latest Pay Commission of AICTE/UGC and State Government, as the case may be, the said Expert Committee submitted the above report to the Fee Structure Committee. In order to make its decision more realistic and objective, such exercise of analyzing the Audit Reports from the private self-financing colleges under the purview of the Higher Education Department has been done by the Fee Structure Committee in the State. (8)The Srikrishna Committee has prescribed Rs. 1,65,063/- per annum as maximum tuition fee and Rs. 24,759/- per annum as maximum development fee per student. However, the Expert Committee has recommended13 maximum Rs,1,10,000/- per annum as tuition fee per student, (9) After due deliberation and discussion, the Fees Structure Committee has accepted the proposal and recommendation of the Expert Committee towards enhancement of maximum annual Tuition Fees on 09.06.2023 in the tune of Rs.1,10,000/- per student (without Development Fee). The Fees Structure Committee resolved that in addition to the prescribed tuition fee per student, the institute can charge Development Fees for future expansion and development of the institute, which shall not exceed 15% of the prescribed Tuition Fee per year per student (herein 15% of Rs.1,10,000/- = Rs.16,500- per annum per student as maximum Development Fee). Regarding Development Fees, it is mentioned in the Para 9.2.2 of the report of the National Fee Committee, 2020-21 that “ The Development Fee shall be limited to 15% of the Tuition Fees being charged which should take care of expansion of the system and development of education as also the non-recurring expendituretowards major repairs and replacement of laboratory equipment, furniture etc,” The Fees Structure Committee resolved that maximum one time Admission Fee has been enhanced to Rs,10,000/- per head for the | entire duration of course with effect from academic year 2023-24, Photocopy of the GO No-426-Edn(T)dated 17.06.2016, GO No- 429- Edn(T) dated 22.06.2018, and GO No- 340-T dated 15.11.2019 are annexed herewith and collectively marked as “R-2” 14. With reference to the statements made in paragraph no.22 to 27 of the said petition and the grounds taken in different sub- Paragraphs there under, I state and submit that the said grounds are not tenable in the eye of law and the same warrant dismissal of the writ petition in limine. 15.[t is most respectfully submitted that none of the prayers made in the said petition is tenable. The writ petitioners have miserably failed to make out even a prima facie case in the writ petition which is liable to be rejected with costs,"735,811, IL od ip 16.The statements made in Paragraphs ...., ty ....,, of the instant Opposition are tr Ee one 136 {0 Jy knowledge; those made in paragraphs oe «thereof are true to my information derived from the records of this case, which I verily believe to be true; and those : i made in paragraphs ..° tp ..... of the foregoing Affidavit are my respectful submissions before this Hon’ble Court, Prepared in my office De J ent is known to me Sf wha to Mr. Advocate Advocate Solemnly affirmed before me on this the 20 dayof APY ,2024 I certify that all annexures are legible: Advocate Commissioner cc