Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court will on Monday hear a batch of petitions on the fee structure in self-financing medical colleges, including the one challenging the decision to raise it to Rs 11 lakh amid the continuing trauma faced by students seeking admissions in them.
On its part, the state government is approaching the Supreme Court seeking permission for conducting another round of counselling for the medical courses which, if allowed, will have a significant bearing on the future of students.
Another contentious issue that is likely to come up in the court is its previous decision to stay a directive of the commissioner for entrance examinations (CEE) to students seeking admission to 35 per cent management quota in two colleges that entered into an agreement with the government — MES Medical College and Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College — to make an interest-free deposit of Rs 11 lakh and to submit a bank guarantee of Rs 44 lakh.
While the CEE made the fee of Rs 11 lakh applicable only to the two self-financing medical colleges which moved the court — KMCT Medical College and Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences — others argue that the fee is applicable for them as well.
The two had agreed to the suggestion of the government that the seats in minority quota would become general if they remained vacant after the second round of allotment. However, the government had issued an order stating that the fee for these seats would be that of government quota. It was not acceptable to the two managements.
The stand was that the fee for the seats should be the same as that of management quota as applicable in the case of community quota even if the seats are transferred to the government.
