College admission fees only through banks from next yr: Mamata

Amidst complaints of extortion from students for admission to colleges, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that fees for the purpose will have to be deposited though banks from next year.

Banerjee, who paid a sudden visit to her alma mater Ashutosh College in south Kolkata yesterday, said the merit list will be the only criteria for admission to colleges.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee said some outsiders are involved in the alleged extortion and the government will identify them and take strict action against them.

Several persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged extortion.

Chatterjee asked the students to pay the admission fees to the colleges through banks if their names featured in the merit list.

"We have already told the colleges that there is no need for counselling. The list (for admission) should be prepared on the basis of merit only and the students can submit the admission fees in the bank directly or through online system," he said.

The verification of certificates will be done when the students join classes. If at that point of time the certificates are not found to be in order then the admission will be deemed as cancelled, the education minister added.

Banerjee during her visit to Ashutosh College had warned of stern action against those demanding money from aspiring students.

Chatterjee too had visited two colleges in the northern part of the city - Jaipuria College and Maharaja Manindra Chandra college and spoke to the students and their guardians about problems faced by them.

Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, the party's student wing, held a high level meeting on the issue at the TMC headquarters here during the day.

TMCP state president Jaya Dutta maintained that most of them who have been arrested in connection with the extortion are outsiders and are neither regular students nor part of th4e students union.

"Some of the TMCP units have been dissolved as they have failed to protect the interest of the students. When outsiders are demanding money from the students, it is the duty of the students' union to protest against it," she added.

Dutta had said yesterday that TMCP members involved in demanding money from students for college admission should immediately quit the organisation as they are maligning it.