New Delhi, July 1: The Union human resource development (HRD) ministry is in a bind over implementing a Madras High Court order to set up a fee-regulation committee for medical courses offered by private deemed universities.
The court issued an interim order on June 16 asking the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the HRD ministry to set up a committee that would determine the fee for medicine courses.
The UGC has written to the HRD ministry saying that since medical education is regulated by the Medical Council of India, it should consult the health ministry and the MCI, commission sources told The Telegraph.
There are 34 private deemed universities that offer courses in medicine. These institutions used to hold their own entrance tests and counselling sessions for admission till 2015. In 2016, they admitted students through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
However, some students could not take admission in a Pondicherry-based deemed university because they were allegedly asked to pay an exorbitant fee that had not been announced in advance. The students had filed a public interest litigation in Madras High Court.
The HRD ministry is divided over the issue of regulating the fee by prescribing a ceiling for private institutions, which may not offer education of the same quality. Senior officials held a meeting on the issue yesterday.
Sources said prescribing a fee structure could defeat the purpose of fee regulation. They said a section of officials feared that institutions that were low on the pecking order and charging less than others could take advantage of a ceiling to jack up their fees.
Another view within the ministry is that in the absence of a fee structure, institutions are charging exorbitant rates ranging between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10 lakh per annum in MBBS courses. There are also allegations that some institutions are charging capitation fee up to Rs 50 lakh at the time of admission.
In the P.A. Inamdar and Others verses the State of Maharashtra and Others case in 2005, the Supreme Court had held that private institutions were free to fix their own fee structures but the government could regulate it to prevent profiteering.
The court had said it was for the Centre to come up with a legislation. If there was no central legislation, the states could enact their own law, the court had said.
Now, there is no law, neither state nor central, on fee regulation.
The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has set up a committee to suggest a fee structure for engineering colleges. It has notified fee structures ranging between Rs 1.44 lakh and Rs 1.58 lakh per annum for BTech courses and between Rs 1.57 lakh and Rs 1.71 lakh a year for MBA programmes.
A vice-chancellor of a deemed university said the idea of fixing an upper limit could be misused by low-ranking institutions.
"Such institutions might increase their fees up to the upper limit. The government should fix an average fee structure to help poor students," the vice-chancellor said.