The Association said though it was mandatory for the Government to constitute a committee for prescribing the fee structure in the 450 self-financing teacher training institutes in Tamil Nadu, no steps had been taken in that direction.

The authorities continued to rely on the provisions of a 2002 Government Order, as per which the Government collected Rs.3,500 from each student on allotment of seats, and Rs.1,500 went to the institution towards special fee.

The petitioner said this year, the allottees refused to pay the tuition fee, stating that Rs.1,500 alone should be collected as per the 2002 order. The impugned order was applicable only to Government and aided institutions because there were no self-financing institutes in 2002, it said.

It added that the Southern Regional Committee of the National Council for Teacher Education started giving recognition to self-financing institutes only from the academic year 2004-05.