HC seeks explanation on high fee structure from medical colleges

Balwant Garg 

Tribune News Service 

Faridkot, April 6

A day after the first round of counselling for admissions to 541 MD, MS and MDS seats in seven medical and 12 dental colleges in the state, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday asked Adesh Medical University and SGPC-run Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College (SGRDMC) to produce the record of deliberation, on the basis of which both colleges fixed their own fee structure for all postgraduate (PG) seats. 

Having 103 MD and MS seats, Adesh (24 seats) and SGRDMC (79 seats) have announced their own fee structure for all seats. While the state government has capped the fee for a 3-year clinical full course at Rs 19.50 lakh, Adesh and SGRDMC has fixed their tuition fee at Rs 49.32 lakh and Rs 36.16 lakh, respectively.

As the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), the centralised counselling conducting body, announced to adhere to the state government’s notified fee structure and seats quota, Adesh and SGRDMC challenged the state’s notification this week. The three-day first round of counselling concluded on April 5.

Adesh University claimed that in 2017, BFUHS gave admissions to five PG seats in the university as per the fee structure and seat quota prescribed by it. 

In last year’s notification for admissions to the PG courses, Adesh was authorised to charge the fee fixed by it and all seats in the institute were treated as management quota seats, claimed the private university in its petition in the HC.

However, in the notification issued on January 25 this year, making an unilateral decision, the state government not only fixed the 50 per cent as government quota seats in Adesh but also fixed the tuition fee for these seats, reads the petition, challenging the notification. 

Similar is the petition of SGRDMC, Amritsar, which also want to end the government quota seats in the institution and want the implementation of its owned fixed fee structure.

Interestingly, the Adesh and SGRDMC have announced much hiked fee for the clinical course for being in high demand. Both colleges have announced a complete waive on the fee for non-clinical courses for lower demand for these branches.

The AMC and SGRDMC have announced zero fees for non-clinical courses. The state government has fixed Rs 7.8 lakh fee for these courses.

Even for MDS (PG course in dentistry), which is also in low demand, Adesh has decreased its annual fee from the state government fixed fee of Rs 5.85 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh per year.

About the fixation of government quota seats in all private institutions, Avinish Kumar, Director, Medical Education and Research Department, said there was no restriction on the colleges about the number of seats to be filled up. 

“The government’s notification is to be abiding by all institutions for filling the state on the basis of institution preferences and admission qua the general category seats,” he said.