Supreme Court | Photo: Reuters
New Delhi: The Kerala government has approached the Supreme Court of India against the High Court order that would result in high fees in self-financing medical colleges in the state. It should be the fees decided by the Fee Regulating Committee that should in place, said the petition moved in SC demanding a stay on the interim order issued by High Court.
The High Court had clarified in its interim verdict that the authority to fix the fees, rested with the Central Medical Commission according to the law framed in 2019. However the commission is yet to be formed. Hence, the students should be charged with the fees fixed by the state Fee Regulatory Committee, government said.
The chairperson of the Fee Regulatory Committee is a retired High Court judge. The state government mentioned in its petition that certain remarks in the interim verdict regarding the committee could have been avoided.
The High Court had instructed to inform the students that they will have to pay up to the maximum fees demanded by the colleges. On the basis of this, the Entrance Exam Commissionerate issued a notification regarding the fee structure fixed by 10 colleges. The state government pointed out that the fees demanded by some of these colleges is up top Rs 22 lakh.
The petition also requested that students should be given an opportunity to complete their studies at a lower fee rate.
The petition filed by the state government also said that not all self-financing medical colleges demand a high fee. The colleges under the Christian Management Association has stated that they will charge the fees fixed by the Fee Regulatory Committee.
Meanwhile, the managements of self- financing colleges have filed a counter petition demanding that their arguments should be heard before issuing an interim verdict on the government’s petition. The counter petition was filed by advocate Haris Beeran, who appeared for KMCT medical college and Sulfikkar Ali, who appeared for Karuna Medical College.
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