Kerala govt may move Supreme Court against self financing medical colleges
Thiruvananthapuram: The state government may submit a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday against the fee charged by self-financing medical colleges that is higher than what was agreed with government. The admission supervisory committee headed by Justice J.M. James had decided Rs 4.4 lakh as the annual fee for Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College. The managements, however, approached the High Court which increased the fee to Rs 10 lakh and Rs 7.50 lakh, respectively.
That apart, KMCT Medical College, Kozhikode, which was given approval in the final phases of the MBBS admission, was allowed to charge Rs 10 lakh for seats other than in the NRI quota by the High Court. For the NRI quota, the college was charging Rs 18 lakh. The contention of the government is that colleges could only collect the fee decided by the committee. KMCT Medical College had earlier agreed to fill the seats from the common counselling of the state government.
Meanwhile, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said that it was difficult to reduce the tuition fee in the agreement between the management and the government. Kerala Private Medical College Management Association secretary Anilkumar Vallil said that the managements would have to close down colleges if the fee agreed with the government was reduced.
Student approaches High Court over spot admission
A student from Kozhikode has approached the High Court over the confusion in the allotment to the medical seats in the state. In her petition, the student said the higher options given in the application was not considered and the spot admissions, instead of the regular allotments, were to help the self-financing colleges. The student also sent complaints to the chief minister, Opposition leader and the health minister.
“There was an opportunity to shift from a self-financing college to a government college or same course in another self-financing college during the spot admission held on September 24. However, on the second spot admission on September 30, this rule was changed, and students were prevented from shifting to another self-financing college for the same course,” said Subaida Jahafar, who moved the HC on Friday. The student alleges that the ones having fewer ranks than her could obtain admission to government medical colleges. However, she lost the chance due to the technical errors in the spot admission.
“The government failed to inform about the changes in the rules of the spot admission. This is a serious failure. Even the Supreme Court has ruled that the management seats also should be prioritised on merit,” she said. She also alleged that the reduction in the number of regular admissions and bid to wrap up the admissions through more spot admissions was to help the self-financing medical colleges. “This is injustice done to the students who scored higher ranks and forcing them to stick to the self-financing colleges, where they first sought admission,” Ms Jahafar said.
