Cabinet meet today, to take up law to regulate MBBS fee

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 5

The state Cabinet in its meeting, scheduled for tomorrow, is expected to discuss an amendment to the Punjab Private Health Sciences Education Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making Reservation) Act, enabling the state government to regulate fee for MBBS and BDS courses in private universities.

Once the amendment takes shape of legislation, the fee being charged by private medical colleges and universities is likely to come down from Rs 70 lakh at present to Rs 15 lakh for the five-year course.

Earlier, the government had drawn flak over “giving free hand” to private universities to charge exorbitant fee from students. Despite much talk, the government has so far failed to bring legislation in this regard.

The alleged fleecing of MBBS students by private institutions may continue in the coming session, as it may take a few more months for the government to convert the amendment into legislation either through the ordinance route or tabling the amendment in the next session of the Vidhan Sabha.

Around five months ago, the Department of Medical Education and Research had prepared the draft of the amendment after getting it cleared from the Advocate General in September last year.

In his advice, the Legal Remembrancer had said though the present Act - enacted much before private universities came into existence - had a provision to regulate fee charged by private medical colleges, there was no reference to private health universities. Citing the Act, the universities would get favourable directions from the court and they not only fixed fee arbitrarily, but also prepared admission criteria that suited them the best.

Laying stress on bringing the universities under the amended Act, the Legal Remembrancer had observed that there was no justification in having different sets of fee structure for private medical colleges and private universities when the courses they were offering were the same.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet is also expected to take up the issue of filling vacancies in the medical college being set up in Mohali and existing ones as well.

No immediate relief for students

• The government has drawn flak over “giving free hand” to private universities to charge exorbitant fee from students. It has failed to bring legislation in this regard.
• The “fleecing” of MBBS students by private institutions may continue in the coming session, as it may take a few more months for the government to convert the amendment into legislation