Even as calls are growing louder against the State government for allowing as many as 17 private universities to be set up in the State, Governor and Chancellor of universities H.R. Bhardwaj has given his approval to eight of them. This means that eight of the Bills that were passed by the Legislative Assembly and Council are now Acts, paving the way for their enforcement.
Four more Sambalpur-based private colleges have come under scrutiny even as the Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested Subash Barik, a close aide of Chairman of Shandilya College of Science and Commerce Kartik Chandra Barik.
Speaking about the modus operandi of the incident, Sharma said Behera had provided the question paper of physics on March 6 evening to Barik. Crime Branch officials suspect involvement of more private colleges in the question paper leak incident.
Minister of State for Higher Education Badri Narayan Patra on Thursday assured the Assembly that the Government will review the functioning and the fee structure of the private colleges.
While most private engineering colleges have decided to resume classes next week, government colleges are awaiting a notification from the Higher Education Department to reopen.
In a major setback to private engineering colleges operating without proper infrastructure and required faculty, the state government has ordered a "physical inspection" to ascertain the actual facilities available in the institutions.
Private engineering colleges plan to hike their hostel and mess fee by about 20 per cent this year on account of the rising prices of foodstuff like rice and cereals. Students, who pay Rs 10,000 already as hostel fee, may soon have to shell out more as a result.
In a major breakthrough in the Plus-II science question paper leak, the Crime Branch of Odisha Police have arrested heads of three privately run colleges.