Priyanka Singh
Published on: 10 September 2022 at 21:31 IST
The Madras High Court on Friday passed a notable judgment that directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to reconsider the office memorandum that directed the fees of 50% seats in Private Medical Colleges and Universities to be at the same rate as Government seats, keeping in mind the merit is not affected.
The bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala passed the orders on a plea by the Private Medical Colleges challenging the plea to set fee structure equivalent to that of Government Medical Colleges.
The petitioners also challenged the validity of Section 10 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 which empowers the Commission of determining the fees in relation to 50% seats of Private Medical Colleges and deemed Universities.
The change in 50% seats’ fee structure would be applicable to those who have availed Government quotas and the when the seats were less than 50%, the rest of the candidates could avail the benefit on the basis of their merit.
The petitioners challenged the validity on the grounds of the guidelines being violative of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. They also questioned the validity of the guidelines being impassable since the Commission had the power of merely framing the guidelines.
The petition contended that it was highly impossible for the private institutions to function alike the Government ones where the latter is heavily subsidized.
The State provides that the NMC was within power to fix fees and pressed the urgency of Private Institutions to participate in the welfare machinery, supporting its argument with precedents and urged that the fee must not collected by such colleges with a motive of profit.
On the other hand, the Kerala High Court held that the NMC guidelines won’t apply to Private Medical Collegea and Deemed Universities in Kerala due to the fees of such seats being already fixed by a statutory committee.