It's that time of the year again when the government and private college managements clash over seat matrix and fee structure for professional courses. At the first meeting this season, college managements on Tuesday wanted a fee increase in fee for the courses but the government refused. And the stalemate continued.

The college managements sought a fee hike for all seats in medical and engineering colleges. "Taking into account inflation and the cost required to run a college, our demands are justified," said Panduranga Shetty, vice-president , Karnataka Private Unaided Engineering Colleges Association.

The government, however, rejected the demand. Higher education  minister said VS Acharya said: "We told the managements that fee hike for government seats is ruled out. As far as management seats are concerned, there can be a marginal fee increase. Since they are payment seats, a marginal increase by Rs 15,000 or Rs 25,000 might not matter much. There was no consensus on this."