Lucknow, March 21 : All admission applicants to the Lucknow University (LU) and its affiliated colleges will now have to pay Rs 100 as registration fee when they register at the admission portal. The rule, however, will not be applicable on candidates seeking admission in National PG College because it enjoys autonomous status. There are 544 colleges in Lucknow, Sitapur, Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri and Rae Bareli affiliated to LU. The decision has been taken at a meeting that also decided that the varsity will start the admission process for 2023-2024 by the end of this week. LU vice-chancellor Prof A.K. Rai said: "Every candidate applying for admission in LU or any of its affiliated colleges in five districts, barring National PG College, will have to register with the LU admission portal first by paying a nominal fee of Rs 100. The decision has been taken so that the university has data and information about every candidate applying and taking admission in all the affiliated colleges." He said that the university so far had no information about the number of students in colleges until examination forms were filled. All that a candidate needs to do now is to register at LU admission portal by entering complete academic details. Thereafter a registration number will be generated which a candidate has to use for applying for admission in colleges, he added. "This practice will help us in student's verification and check any anomaly in admissions in college. This practice has been adopted by several state universities and now LU has decided to implement it from the academic session 2023-24." He also informed that like previous years, LU will conduct a centralized admission process for its courses and colleges which will opt for it. A candidate will have to fill only one form for admission in LU or any of the empanelled colleges. /IANS