Plea in Madras HC against NMC order on fee of 50% private medical seats same as govt: Report

NEW DELHI: Private medical colleges and deemed universities have filed a petition in the Madras High Court against the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines stating that the fees for 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities should be on par with that of the government medical colleges, as per various media reports. Education Promotion Society of India, an organisation of educational institutions, has reportedly challenged the NMC order terming it as “unconstitutional” and sought directions to quash the order.

The petitioners argued that the implementation of NMC order will lead to discrimination as the second half of students will have to pay for the first half for whom the fee will be reduced, the reports said.

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“Since higher education is not a fundamental right, it is unreasonable to compel a citizen to pay for the education of another, more so in the unrealistic world of competitive examinations,” the petition stated as per reports.

In a plea before Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala, EPSI reportedly argued that NMC can only frame guidelines on the fee structure and has no right to direct the self-financed colleges to implement its order. The counsel representing EPSI mentioned that private medical colleges charge around Rs 15 to 20 lakh per year from MBBS students while deemed universities charge Rs 25 to 30 lakh per year. If they are forced to collect fees on par with government medical colleges from half of their students, then they would have to tax the rest to cover the expenses.

In February, NMC made the fee of 50 percent of seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities equal to the fee in the government medical colleges in the respective states and union territories. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the decision will benefit the poor and middle-class students.