New Delhi: The Supreme Court has fixed 1.1 million rupees as admission fee for MBBS in self-financing colleges.
The August 28 ruling is a huge setback to the Kerala government and a number of aspiring medical students in the southern state, reports manoramaonline.com.
The court said all the colleges in the sector could charge the amount. The court has suggested to set apart 600,000 rupees from the 1.1 million as bank guarantee. The court ordered the college managements to keep the money in a separate bank account. The amount needs to be paid within 15 days of the admission.
The court rejected the state government’s revision petition challenging an earlier order fixing 1.1 million as the fee in two colleges.
Though the attorney general, K.K. Venugopal, cited that a revision in fee structure would put a burden on students as allotment has been completed, the court did not consider this argument.
The verdict comes even as admission process progressed in the Kerala state capital of Thiruvananthapuram. The verdict forces the students who have already got admission for 500,000 rupees, the fee fixed by the state government, to arrange the rest of the amount in a short period.
Meanwhile, the Christian Management Association said the colleges under it would continue with the earlier fee structure which fixed 500,000 rupees as admission fee.
Reacting to the Supreme Court order, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on August 29 said the government will ensure that the verdict affect poor students who are eligible for admission.
Pinarayi said in a Facebook post that the government will extend its support in availing bank guarantee and loans to the eligible students. According to the SC order, the fees regulatory committee has the right to take a final decision on fixing the admission fees.
A committee headed by justice Rajendrababu will have a final authority on fixing the fee structure, Pinarayi said.