New Delhi, May 29: The Kerala High Court allowed the private colleges to collect this fee while staying the fee structure fixed by the Fee Regulatory Committee headed by Justice P A Mohammed. The fee fixed by the panel for the next three years ranged from Rs.254, 000 to Rs.273, 000.
The order in this regard was passed by an interim bench headed by Justice Ramachandran on a petition filed by six medical college managements, which had signed agreement with the government regarding the fees.
The high court had earlier allowed the medical colleges under the Christian Medical College Management Association to proceed with the admission based on their fees and admission norms.
The six colleges challenged the Mohammed Committee fees saying that it would cause huge loss to them. They pointed out that they had collected an average annual fee of Rs.400,000 as per the agreement they signed with the government.
The petitioners alleged that the Mohammed Committee had fixed the fees unilaterally and arbitrarily. They said that the committee had not heard the views of the college managements before fixing the fee.
The committee announced the fee after seeking some documents from individual colleges six months ago, the petitioners said.
They have also challenged the power given to the committee to fix the fees. The court has issued notice to the Mohammed Committee and the state government on this.
–Agencies