Rs 20 lakh NRI fee fixed in Kerala

Thiruvanathapuram: The Justice R Rajendrababu Committee order, for the academic year 2017-18 has announced the tuition fee for 17 medical colleges of the state at Rs. 20 lakh. However, the 4 Christian medical colleges of the state have been allowed to charge Rs. 18 lakhs as a fee for the year 2017-18. The fee for the academic year 2018-19 for self-financing medical colleges will continue to remain 20 lakhs.

Rs 5 lakh has to be set aside by medical colleges from every NRI seat to support poor meritorious students who have been admitted into medical institutions. Though resistance was met with on this provision by NRI parents and others, the committee refused to entertain any opposition on the matter.

The agreement signed between the Kerala Christian Professional College Management Federation and the state government in October last year fixed the fee for Amala, Jubilee, Pushpagiri and Kolenchery medical colleges at Rs 18 lakh for the 2017-18 academic year. However, the final fee will be subject to the High Court’s verdict in the above case, as there is a case pending against this order by the committee.

The fees for NRI seats in An exception has been made in the case of Pariyaram Cooperative Medical College by the committee which has not fixed as the college has yet to reach a decision on its tuition fee. In accordance with law, the committee can only propose uniform fees for merit seats at Pariyaram Cooperative Medical College. This raises the issue of whether students can be granted admission on lower fees.

The BPL student fund has an order spelt out by the Justice Rajendrababu Committee. The Rs 5 lakh is to be transferred to a special fund when the NRI fees are collected. The management has no say in the distribution of this amount.

The government is to distribute scholarships based on the mutual agreement reached between the supervisory committee and itself. The amount set aside for the BPL fund at the time of collection of NRI fee is to be transferred to the government when asked for, which in turn shall find the deserving students and distribute the sum reports on Manorama.

Presently, the committee is to decide the fees for the MBBS course at a new private medical college and also the Pariyaram Medical College. This would be followed by the fixing of fee for medical PG courses and dental degree courses.