PU restricts fee hike to 10 pc

The Panjab University senate has decided to restrict its fee hike to 10 per cent for all the courses for the academic session 2017-18.
After this announcement various students organisations called off their over one month-long protest.
This decision was taken by the senate yesterday in a meeting held at PU campus after several senators demanded a review of fee hike in the wake of students' protest.
"After a detailed discussion on the fee issue, the senate unanimously resolved to increase the tuition fee for the new entrants by 10 per cent, subject to a minimum of Rs 500," said a release issued by PU.

In March, PU authorities had hiked the tuition fee which ranged between 40 to 1,100 per cent.
For B Pharma course, the fee was raised from Rs 5,080 to Rs 50,000 and in case of MA Journalism, it was hiked from Rs 5,290 to Rs 30,000. For the dental course, the hike was from Rs 86,400 to Rs 1.50 lakh.

During the senate meeting, former Union minister and PU senator Pawan Kumar Bansal had suggested that the hike should be 10 per cent over the fee of last financial year and termed the previous hike as "unjustified".
"We have called off our protest against the fee hike. Ten per cent hike in fee in courses is acceptable to us," said Nishant Kaushal, President, Panjab University Students' Council said today.

Members of the Students for Society (SFS) also withdrew their protest.
The students were protesting against the "significant" hike in tuition fee announced by PU senate for the academic year 2017-18.
The protest had even turned violent on April 11, when the students clashed with the police who had to use force. It resulted in injuries on both sides.