Jai Hind college principal served notice for charging Rs 1000 as Wi-Fi fee
Jai Hind College. Picture: NaukriMilli.com
The principal of Jai Hind College in Churchgate has been served a show cause notice by the Department of Higher Education, after the student wing of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidhyarthi Sena (MNVS) accused the management of charging capitation fee for providing Wi-Fi service in college.
According to the complaint filed by student activist, Santosh Gangurde, the management was charging an annual fee of Rs 960 towards providing Wi-Fi facility in the college premises. The Wi-Fi fee was over and above the fees paid to the University of Mumbai.
When contacted, an official from the school said, “The principal, Ashok Wadia, along with other senior college staff had discussed the possibility of providing a Wi-Fi facility to students after a meeting with the student council. The idea was brought up by the students themselves.”
“Based on the cost borne by the college management for the installation and setup of the service, a voluntary fee of Rs 80 per student per month was decided,” he added.
He also stated that the fee is just a way of recovering the one time and ongoing investment that the college will bear for the upkeep of the service. The college does not plan on making any money by providing the service.
The Wi-Fi facility was first installed in one building on campus in 2014 and after a successful trial run of around 20 months, it was extended to the entire college premises.
