The Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today stated that the first meeting of the Fee Committee of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was held on 30 June 2014. Earlier AICTE had constituted a Fee Committee on 9-3-2006 under the Chairmanship of Justice Ranganathan Mishra, former Chief Justice of India. The Committee could not convene its meeting due to ill health of Justice Ranganathan Mishra . Due to the sudden death of Justice Mishra another Committee had been constituted on 7 May 2014 under the Chairmanship of Justice Srikrishna (former Judge of Supreme Court) to fix the norms and guidelines of fee structure in private professional institutions.
As of today there is no legislation proposed to regulate fees in private professional institutions. However, the policy for controlling the fee structure in private professional institutions has been laid down based on the Supreme Court of India direction in the case of T.M.A. Pai Foundation and Others Vs State of Kamataka and Others on 31 October 2002 wherein the Court has ordered that every State Government should constitute a Committee to fix the ceiling on the fees chargeable by a professional college or class of professional colleges, as the case may be. This committee should, after hearing the professional colleges, fix the fee once every three years or at such longer period, as it may think appropriate until such time that the National Fee Committee fixes such norms.