State against House panel probe on fee

The state government on Monday turned down a demand by the Congress MLA, Mr E. Pratap Reddy, for a House committee probe into the flouting of rules and charging of heavy fee by corporate school and college managements.
Members cutting across party lines expressed ire at the antics of corporate educational institutions.
An agitated Mr Pratap Reddy hit out at corporate managements but when he demanded an Assembly committee probe, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, signalled to the school education minister, Mr D. Varaprasada Rao, not to accede to it.
Following this, the minister turned down the demand and said that the government would conduct inquiries into the specific allegations.
It all started with the TRS member, Mr T. Harish Rao, alleging that colleges such as Narayana and Sri Chaitanya had monopolised intermediate education denying space for small players.
The TRS member questioned the rationale behind the government reimbursing Rs 30,000 for each poor student studying in corporate colleges instead of punishing the managements for levying high fee.
However, the minister clarified that the fee was for boarding, food bill and Eamcet coaching and requested members not to make an issue out of it as it would affect poor students.