BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday kept in abeyance the fee fixed by the Fee Fixation Committee for postgraduate (PG) medical and dental courses for 2006-07 and allowed a few dental and medical colleges to charge the fee collected last academic year.

The colleges, including M.S. Ramaiah Medical College of Bangalore, had moved the court against what they had described as low fees for undergraduate and PG courses fixed by the Fee Committee, now headed by retired Judge Rangavittalachar.

In its interim order, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice K.L. Manjunath directed the colleges to inform the students that the fee paid by them would be subject to the final decision of the court.

The petitioners contended that the fees fixed for PG and undergraduate courses were too low. The Bench said it would only consider the fee structure for PG courses as admissions to these courses would begin early next month. It said it would deal with the fee structure for MBBS and BDS courses in June as the calendar year (academic year) would commence only in September. The Bench said students should be prepared to pay a higher fee if the fee collected from them by their colleges at the time of admission (as per last year's fee structure) was found to be low.

If the fee structure was found to be high, the institutions should refund the fee or adjust the fee next year, the Bench said.

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