Thiruvananthapuram: Hidden cost in the fee structure approved by the High Court for two medical colleges drove away students from spot admissions which ended on Friday. Though, the fee fixed by the High Court for KMCT and Kannur Medical Colleges were only Rs 10 lakh, the court had also allowed the colleges to collect a bank guarantee of Rs 44 lakh for guarantee as fee for the subsequent years, Rs 10 lakh as interest free refundable deposit and Rs 3 lakh as hostel fee. Students were asked to pay Rs 2.5 lakh immediately. The rest of the amount has to be paid before October 17.
The fee fixed by the court was only provisional and could come up for review at the meeting of the admission supervisory committee headed by J.M. James after the Puja holiday. The state government’s last-minute attempt to reduce the fees in Karuna, KMCT and Kannur Medical Colleges did not succeed after the Supreme Court rejected its appeal against a Kerala High Court verdict. The government had filed the appeal in the Supreme Court as the High Court allowed these colleges to hike their annual fees.
The appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court arguing that it was late stage and they could not intervene, as the admission process was to get over by Friday evening. The High Court had rejected the admission supervisory committee fixed Rs 4.4 lakh as annual fees for Kannur and Karuna Medical Colleges. The colleges had refused to sign the agreement with the state government. The court fixed an annual fee of Rs 7.45 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for Karuna Medical College and Kannur Medical College, respectively. The court also allowed KMCT Medical College, Kozhikode to collect Rs 10 lakh for general seats and Rs 18 lakh for NRI seats. The college had obtained recognition in the last minute from the Medical council of India.
