M A I N   N E W S

Punjab cuts admission fee to
MBBS, homoeo courses
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22
The Punjab Government today slashed the admission fee and fixed the limit of other charges to be taken from students for joining the MBBS, BDS, Ayurvedic and homoeopathy courses in the government recognised private colleges in the state.

The state government has also disallowed the management of Christian Medical College and Christian Dental College, Ludhiana to increase the minority quota seats.

The application of the Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical and Dental Sciences, Amritsar regarding allowing sub reservation (for wards of faculty etc) within the 50 per cent minority quota has also been rejected.

There are as many as 27 such colleges affiliated with Baba Farid University for Medical Sciences, Faridkot to be covered under this order.

Slashing of fee and fixing the number of other charges has been ordered on the basis of recommendations made by the fee fixation committee and admission supervision committee set up by the Punjab Government.

When contacted, Mr Satish Chandra, Secretary, Medical Education and Research, told The Tribune today that the fee for MBBS course has been reduced from existing Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 75,000 and in case of BDS course, the fee has been cut to Rs 55,000 from Rs 1 lakh and in case of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medical Science and Bachelor of Homoeopathy Medical Science, the fee has been brought down to Rs 35,000 from Rs 50,000. The order regarding fee will be applicable with retrospective effect that is from academic session of 2003-04. The colleges concerned will have to either refund the excess fee deposited by students concerned last year or to adjust while charging fee for the academic session of year 2004-05.

Taking another important step, the state government has directed all these colleges to charge only Rs 5,000 as security and Rs 10,000 as hostel charges per year, per room. No other charges such as development and miscellaneous ones could be taken from students. The committee has ordered that if any amount in excess as others charges, which have not been fixed by the government, has been taken from students, it should be refunded forthwith.

It may mentioned here that throwing the government’s instructions to the winds, most of such colleges had taken fee and other charges far in excess from students last year. For instance, Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Sciences and Research charged over Rs 3.58 lakh from each student for admission in MBBS course. Besides charging Rs 2 lakh as admission, Rs 20,000 as hostel fee and Rs 20,000 as security fee, these institutions also charged Rs 50,000 as augmentation and expansion facilities charges, Rs 50,000 as college security and Rs 15,000 as amalgamated fund.

Parents of students had strongly objected to such charges. However, the managements of most of the private colleges turned a deaf year to such objections. The government has made it clear that the charges reduced today would be applicable in case of all students, including the ones admitted against minority quota seats in the colleges where such provision exists.

Meanwhile, the state government said that application of the Christian Medical College and Christian Dental College, Ludhiana, for increase in the minority quota seats from existing 50 per cent to 76 per cent and for allowing them to fill up all the 100 per cent seats, including government quota seats on the basis of their own entrance test, had been rejected.

These institutions will have only 50 per cent minority quota seats which can be filled on the basis of the own entrance test . The remaining 50 per cent government quota seats will be filled by the university on the basis of entrance test conducted at state level.

Even the minority quota seats will have to be filled purely on the basis inter-se merit and there can be no sub reservation for various churches.