The Hindu : Karnataka News : Medical college challenges fee structure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 04, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Medical college challenges fee structure

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 3. The B.M. Patil Medical College of Bijapur has challenged in the Karnataka High Court the fee structure announced by the Committee for Fixation of Fee Structure of Private Professional Colleges (A.B. Murgod Committee).

In its petition, the BLDE Association, which runs the college, said it had several educational institutions under it in north Karnataka, including engineering and other degree colleges, a pre-university college, and a high school. It said the medical college was set up in 1986.

On June 21, 2004, the Murgod Committee announced the fee structure for several medical colleges including the B.M. Patil Medical College. It said the fees fixed for the postgraduate courses in medicine were much less than what the college had sought. It said the fees fixed were in contravention of the Supreme Court judgment in the T.M.A. Pai and Islamic Academy of Education cases. The Supreme Court had permitted the colleges to charge reasonable fees, and the fees fixed by the college was reasonable.

The college claimed that four institutions had been closed down in 2003-04 owing to paucity of funds. It said it had spent Rs. 37.14 crore from 2001-02 to 2003-04, and it was projected to spend Rs. 63 crore from 2004-05 to 2006-07. The college contended that the Murgod Committee did not consider this information though it was provided.

The fees fixed by the committee (the fees demanded by the college are given in brackets) are as follows: PG degree - pre-clinical - Rs. 40,000 (Rs. 61,250), para-clinical - Rs. 80,000 (Rs. 1.22 lakh), clinical - Rs. 2.16 lakh (Rs. 3.67 lakh), and PG diploma - para-clinical - Rs. 40,000 (Rs. 61,250), clinical - Rs. 1.76 lakh (Rs. 3.06 lakh).

The college urged the court to quash the notification on the ground that it was legally untenable.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Private Medical, Dental and Engineering Colleges' Association and linguistic minority institutions have challenged the seat matrix announced by the (retired Justice) Ventakaraman Committee.

Both have contended that the seat matrix violated the Supreme Court orders on admissions. They claimed that the court had allowed them to conduct admissions on their own.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka