Thiruvananthapuram: With the private medical colleges seeking a higher fee for both management and NRI quota, which was unacceptable to the government, the proposed meeting with them has hit a roadblock. Following this, the meeting tentatively fixed for Monday to discuss a fee revision for the government quota stood cancelled. The case filed by the managements against the fee set by the regulatory panel headed by Justice R. Rajendra Babu is meanwhile coming up in the high court on Tuesday.
Kerala Private Medical College Management Association had expressed their willingness to reduce the fee for government quota seats from Rs 5.5 lakh to last year’s level - Rs 25,000 for 20 BPL and SEBC seats and 2.5 lakh for the remaining 30 seats in government quota. However, the managements wanted to increase the fee structure for the 35 percent management quota from '5.5 Lakh to Rs 11 lakh.
They also wanted an increase of 15 percent in the NRI quota from Rs 15 lakh to 22 lakh and some in the NRI quota changed into institutional seats in which they had the freedom to make admissions on their own. Kerala Private Medical College Management Association secretary Anilkumar Vallil said the government had not officially extended an invitation even though they were willing for a reduction in management quota fee. "Hence, there are no chances for a discussion on the issue on Monday," he told DC.
