Himachal government has constituted a three member committee, headed by former High Court Judge VK Sharma, to review the fee hike by Himachal Pradesh University as the students' agitation on the issue gained momentum in the state.
Apart from Justice Sharma, the other two members of the committee would be Sarojani Thakur, Chairperson of the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission and AR Chauhan, former Pro-Vice chancellor of Indus International University.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said "the committee would give its report within a month on the fee issue but nobody would be allowed to vitiate the academic atmosphere in the University and indulge in violence".
The agitation in protest against the fee hike gained momentum as most students of the college and HPU boycotted their classes. The students leaders have also called for a statewide 'Education bandh'.
While talking to a delegation of NSUI, Singh said "no hike has been made in the tuition fee as well as hostel fee".
The NSUI delegation apprised the CM that in certain cases fees had been hiked considerably and requested for reviewing it in the larger interests of the student community and also pleaded for maintaining law and order and restoring the academic atmosphere in educational institutions.
The CM also held a meeting with Principal Secretary Education, Vice-Chancellor of HPU and Senior officers of Education Department and directed them to take appropriate measures for maintaining peaceful academic atmosphere in the educational institutions.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA and former member of the HPU Executive Council Suresh Bhardwaj demanded immediate roll back of "unjustified" hike in fee structure.
In a press statement issued here, he said the decision of the government is "anti-student" and would deprive the youth of Himachal Pradesh of their basic right to higher education.
Terming the hike in fees structure (100 to 2000 per cent) as completely "wild and baseless", Singh said during the BJP regime an additional grant of Rs 18 crore was released to the university in addition to normal grant of Rs 63 crore but the present Congress government has reduced the budget to Rs 62 crore.
Meanwhile the call for "indefinite education bandh" given by the Joint Action Committee comprising of members of SFI and ABVP received overwhelming response, and the classrooms of HPU as well as majority of affiliated colleges in the state wore a deserted look.
