The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its compliance audit report tabled in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday, April 29, said government aided and private arts and science colleges have collected excess application fees, more than prescribed norms, from students.
The report mentioned that due to the failure of the joint directorates of collegiate education and the state government in monitoring compliance with fee collection as per government guidelines, several government-aided and self-financing colleges collected extra fees amounting to Rs 23.14 crore from 2021 to 2024.
The report said that as per guidelines, application fees of Rs 48 and Rs 58 for UG and PG courses, respectively, and registration fees of Rs 2 alone should be collected from students.
However, scrutiny of records (July 2021) maintained by the Joint Directorate of Collegiate Education (JDCE), Chennai and Tirunelveli Regions (April 2022) and data collected from 95 government aided/self-financing colleges functioning under the eight regional offices of the JDCE (Chennai, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Madurai, Thanjavur, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli and Vellore) revealed that excess fees had been collected.
From 2021 to 2024, excess application fee between Rs 50 and Rs 545 was collected from 1,29,579 applicants (other than Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes - SC/ST category) instead of the government rate of Rs 48 and Rs 58.
