Coimbatore : Alleging that the private engineering colleges were taking entire fees from SC/ST students, which have to be borne by the Government, activists of Students Federation of India (SFI) Friday gathered at the office of District Collector for submitting a petition.

A 45-strong group claimed that the government had exempted the fees for such students by an order on the promise that it will bear the entire amount and asked the private engineering college to admit SC/ST students.

However, some colleges refused to admit the students by claiming that they had not received the amount from the government for earlier admissions of SC/ST students and demanded fees, they said.

SFI members wanted to meet the Collector to get a clarification on the order and assembled near his office, federation district secretary, Dinesh said.

However, police prevented the students from meeting the Collector. The students wanted to explain to him that many SC students had paid fees of semester and hostel fees,, he said.

As the students insisted on meeting the Collector, all of them were arrested and taken in a van, police said.