IITs may soon have authority to decide their own fee structure

The premier educational institutes, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may be soon allowed to set their own fee structure without consulting the apex council governing the prestigious institution.

According to sources, the move to give a free hand to the institution's various campuses is aimed at enhancing their autonomy.

"The Board of Governors are likely to be given theauthority to decide the fee structure for the respective IIT.Currently, they are part of the fee deciding process but arenot the final authority," a source said.

However, it wasn't immediately clear whether the idea if approved, will be applicable to all IITs or limited campuses.

At present, the fee structure is determined by the IITcouncil, the top decision-making body, which is chaired by theUnion human resource development minister and includes IITdirectors and board of governors of each institute.

The IITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education.

The 23 IITs are located in the following cities:Bhilai, Chennai, Delhi, Dhanbad, Dharwad, Goa, Guwahati,Jammu, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai, Roorkee, Bhubaneswar,Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi,Palakkad, Patna, Ropar, Tirupati and Varanasi.

Former HRD Minister Smriti Irani had in April announcedan increase in the annual fees for undergraduate courses fromexisting Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh, a rise of 122 per cent, for new enrollments from the current academic session.

The Ministry had also decided to give a total fee waiverfor the differently-abled, students from SC and ST communityand those belonging to families with annual income less thanRs 1 lakh, following a proposal by a high-level IIT panel.