BANGALORE: The contentious fee structure issue between the State Government and private professional college managements may not be resolved immediately. The managements, most of which run medical colleges, on Monday decided to take the matter directly to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and not depend on official channels.

The two committees — one for medical and dental courses and another for engineering — set up to find a lasting solution might be a non-starter. "It was felt that meeting the Chief Minister directly and explaining the colleges' concern about the fee structure is the best option," Karnataka Private Medical Colleges' Association president Shamanur Shivashankarappa told The Hindu .

While a consensus appeared imminent on seat sharing in engineering colleges, managements were not satisfied with the fee structure for MBBS, announced earlier by the Rangavittalachar Fee Fixation Committee. The fee was considered "too low".

The managements were not against the Government's suggestion of 50 per cent of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other reserved categories. But they were not in favour of cross-subsidy. They felt the fee suggested by the Rangavittalachar committee had to be paid by all students. "With most colleges finding the fee too low, they are not going to agree to any subsidyBesides, the Government owes lakhs of rupees to college managements as compensation for subsidy last year," a management official said.

The Government has, however, decided that it will not delay the admission process for its quota of seats. It has announced that the Common Entrance Test (CET) for seats in government and private aided colleges will be held from May 9 to 12. If an agreement is reached with college managements, students may have to appear for only one CET. In the past two years, managements seats have been filled through a test conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK). A key COMEDK member has reportedly suggested that one CET be held, but only after a consensus is reached on seat-sharing and fee structure.

Counselling

The COMEDK member-college representatives, who met here on Monday, finalised the counselling schedule for the postgraduate medical and dental seats for candidates who appeared for the postgraduate entrance test conducted by the consortium. The seat selection process will be held from April 3 to 9, the first four days for PG medical seats and the next three days for PG dental seats.

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