Tue Apr 29 20:03:00 UTC 2025: ## Tamil Nadu Colleges Overcharged Students by Crores, Finds CAG Audit
**Chennai, April 30, 2025** – A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit has revealed that aided and self-financing colleges in Tamil Nadu overcharged students by a total of ₹3.14 crore in application fees. The audit, covering the period 2021-24, examined records from 95 colleges across eight regional directorates.
The audit found that 72 colleges exceeded the prescribed application fees, ranging from ₹50 to ₹545 per applicant, affecting 129,579 students. An additional ₹1.28 crore was collected as an unauthorized “application processing fee” from 82,389 applicants.
The Tamil Nadu government responded that it lacked the power to control self-financing colleges under the T.N. Private College Regulations Act. However, the CAG cited Section 28 of the Act, which empowers the government to regulate fees. The government argued that refunding the excess fees to students who graduated between 2019 and 2022 would be difficult.
The CAG recommended that strict instructions be issued to colleges to adhere to the prescribed fee structure and that steps be taken to ensure the refund of excess fees.
The audit also highlighted significant issues with infrastructure spending at a government polytechnic college in Ambalakaranpettai Melur. Millions of rupees were spent on a principal’s quarters, a guest house, and an auditorium that remain largely unused. Construction of a crucial compound wall is only 13% complete. The CAG criticized the lack of justification for these expenditures, which do not align with AICTE norms. The government responded that some facilities were in use and that work on the compound wall had begun. The CAG recommended that the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) standardize building norms for government polytechnics and improve justification procedures.
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