FTII students failing to finish course work caused institute Rs 12 crore loss, CAG says

Students overstaying and non completing their film courses at the Film and Television Institute of India have resulted in losses to the tune of up to Rs 11.83 crore, the Comptroller and Auditor General said today in a report.

The massive revenue loss was caused by 212 students who failed to complete their course work, resulting in them staying on in hostels beyond the schedule completion of their academic terms.

According to the CAG report, the failure of the students to complete their respective courses within the prescribed time period also resulted in admissions being held up during the academic years of 2010-11, 2014-15 and 2015-16.

The 212 students continued to be on the academic roll and in hotels without any paying any fees/hostel charges, resulting in a revenue loss of Rs 11.83 crore.

The CAG also said that it found cases of irregular payment of service tax, excess release of advance payment and unfruitful expenditure on consultancy fees without any commensurate benefits.

STUDENTS OVERSTAYED

Between 2006 and 2012, 315 students were admitted on a total capacity of 352 seats for various six-month diploma courses.

Of these, 212 students were still on the academic roll as of March 31, 2016, as they failed to compelte their academic exercises, projects and other course work. These included 94 students who were on the roll for more than three years after their courses should have been completed.

WHAT THE CAG FOUND

1. The institution (FTII) neither has any specific rule to extend the tenure of such students nor any approval for such group extensions were taken from the Academic Council or Governing Council.

2. The tution and hostel fees are not charged after the scheduled completion of courses. Hence, the students continued to be on academic roll and in hostels without payment of fees/hostel charges beyond the prescribed tenure of their courses.

3. Continuance of a very large number of enrolled students creates additional pressure on the academic and other infrastructure of the institute.

4. Of the total revenue loss of Rs 11.83 crore, Rs 2.78 crore due to FTII not charging fees for the extended duration of the courses and Rs 9.05 crore due to non-recovery of hostel fees for overstay.

FTII's REPLY

Responding to the CAG's findings, the FTII, in a reply on September 2016, admitted that there was a problem of students not completing their course work on time and that the institution does not have a set system of dealing with such situations.

The CAG report, however, noted that the FTII students' hand book states that a student has to leave the hostel room and campus after completion of the academic tenure of his/her course.

CASCADING EFFECT

Apart from causing a revenue loss, students overstaying at FTII has also had a cascading effect on fresh admissions, the CAG said. The situation caused the institution to skip fresh admissions in 2010, 2014, 2015.

"Forgoing the admission process in an academic year defeated the purpose of setting up such a premier film and television institute and had incurred a potential revenue loss upto Rs 4.57 crore," the report said.

ALSO READ | Food served by Indian Railways not fit for human consumption: CAG

ALSO READ | Textile industry has suffered loss of Rs 40,000 crore due to protests against GST, claim traders