Karnataka: Colleges given time by HC for taking fee decisions

Bangalore: The High Court has granted time to dental and medical colleges, that have yet not submitted their fee fixation proposals to the Fee Regulatory Committee, while directing the FRC, to complete the process by April end.

The court was responding to the petition filed by a dozen medical and dental colleges, including, Navodaya Medical College, from Bengaluru and other parts of the state as well as Bengaluru Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital. The colleges have sought direction for the State government to fix fee for their respective courses. The colleges want the fee to be the same as that of deemed universities. The FRC is the deciding body for fee fixation.

Meanwhile, the FRC informed the court that the fee fixation process was already underway, with the body having invited proposals from respective colleges. The regulating body admitted to have received applications from several colleges in this regard. The FRC committed to submission of report on fee fixation of colleges whose proposals had been received, to the court, by April 15,2017.

23 medical and dental colleges had not made any applications so far. "If the applications are not made, naturally, Fee Regulatory Committee would not be able to take appropriate decision," the FRC told the court.

The court made the following three directions in the case:

• Fee Regulatory Committee shall submit the report as declared before this Court by 15th April, 2017 in respect of the colleges for whom proposal has already been submitted.

• The 12 colleges which approached the court were given 10 days to submit their applications to the FRC

• The FRC to examine such proposal and the report be submitted to the court by the end of April, 2017

The state government was also directed to take action on the report and fix the fee in accordance with law at the earliest, reported Bangalore Mirror.

Having observed the facts of the case, the High Court stated, "it is observed that in cases where the respective colleges have not entered into consensual agreement, it would be required for the Fee Regulatory Committee to examine the proposal and make appropriate report in accordance with law, for fixation of the fees to the State Government and State Government shall notify the fees in accordance with law."