The Madras High Court on Friday directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to reconsider an office memorandum issued by it on February 3, which held that 50% seats in deemed-to-be universities and self-financed medical colleges fee to be determined. Equivalent to the fee collected by the Government Medical Colleges of the respective State or Union Territory.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala ordered that a fresh memorandum be issued at the earliest and clarified that the existing fee structure should continue till the NMC reconsiders the issue in the light of certain negative aspects that may arise due to it. can. Collection of very low fees from 50% of the students and exorbitant fees from others.
The judges said that the NMC had issued the February 3 memorandum based on the report of an expert committee, which had failed to consider the possibility of poor students who could not secure seats on the basis of merit due to lack of coaching. , abolished subsidies in fees. Rich students who can get seat on merit basis by starting private coaching classes.
“The above can have a dire consequence as the poor can subsidize the fees of the rich, as the fee structure for 50% of the seats will be equivalent to the fee in government medical colleges and obviously those seats will be taken up. Students who have secured merit position. This aspect has been ignored,” the division bench wrote.
Although Additional Solicitor-General R. Sankaranarayanan argued that the intention of the NMC was to regulate the fee structure for management quota seats in self-financed colleges and deemed-to-be universities, the judges said, adding, “We have not found that in the February 3 office memorandum. Explanation of nature.
He also said that while private institutions had no option but to charge 50% of the students extra fees so as to subsidize the rest of the education, there was always the possibility of some students not being able to take the seats allotted to them. Lives. Due to inability to pay such high fees. Eventually those seats may become vacant.
“It will also result in the relinquishment of merit because if a meritorious candidate is unable to pay the higher fee, the seat will be allotted to the next candidate in the merit list and in the worst case scenario any candidate in the merit list to take is not ready. The burden of paying higher fees and if the seat remains vacant, it will be a loss to the institution and the nation,” the bench said.
The judges said that even this aspect was not considered by the expert committee and hence the NMC should reconsider its memorandum. He said that if Parliament intends to fix fee structure for all seats and not just 50% seats, then the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 will have to be amended accordingly.
Authorizing the decision, the Chief Justice, however, upheld the constitutional validity of Section 10(1)(i) of the NMC Act, under which the Office Memorandum was issued. This provision empowers the NMC to frame guidelines for fixation of fees and other fees in respect of 50% seats in private medical institutions and deemed-to-be universities.
He said that this provision does not violate any provision of the Constitution. He also rejected the argument that this provision would not be applicable to the universities and ruled that the NMC Act, being a special law on medical education, would override the general provisions of the University Grants Commission rules.
The Chief Justice said that the fee structure in deemed universities should also be regulated to avoid “exploitation of students”. The judgment was passed after the court disposed of a batch of writ petitions filed by several self-financing medical colleges and deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
He had challenged the constitutional validity of Section 10(1)(i) of the Act as well as the February 3 Office Memorandum. Their main argument was that the NMC can only issue guidelines and not a direction to fix the fee for 50% of the seats. He also argued that it would not be possible for private institutions to collect the highly subsidized government college fees from 50% of the students.