Medical
college in Kerala demanding NRI quota admission fees
is illegal
Kochi, July 28th, 2006
R. Patel
A state medical college has demanded
Rs.2.5 million each against admission to seats in
the NRI quota in violation of the rules. Supreme Court
ruling in April this year, no professional college
in Kerala can demand any such fees from candidates.
Asianet Television channel alleged that the Kochi
Cooperative Medical College had demanded the money
as development fees against the NRI quota.
The division bench of the Kerala High Court is all
set to give its verdict on Saturday on an appeal filed
by the Kerala government against its July 18 interim
verdict on a new education bill. A single bench of
the court had ordered that status quo be maintained
on the admission procedures and fee structure to self-financing
professional colleges in the state.
With the order asking colleges to maintain status
quo, 50 percent seats in self-financing professional
colleges would continue to be decided by the management
and 50 percent would be in the merit category.
The Education Minister M.A. Baby sought to put the
blame on the administrative staff of the college.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has been
against huge fees demanded by colleges. It has been
on a warpath against private medical colleges which
collect such fees.
M. Swaraj, Left wing student leader, said: ‘We
do not subscribe to such hefty fees, and our policies
are quite clear. We will launch an agitation against
this action.’
