Date:22/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/22/stories/2007052207150500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Fee: PG medical students go to court

Staff Reporter

37 students of M.S. Ramaiah Medical College filed a petition

Adichunchanagiri Institute students too have approached court

BANGALORE: More than 100 medical students on Monday moved the Karnataka High Court seeking a direction to the private medical colleges in which they were studying postgraduate courses to charge fees as fixed by the erstwhile Fee Fixation Committee.

In the first petition, Pavan T. Sugoor, Karthik Kaushik and 35 other students said they had joined the M.S. Ramaiah Medical College in Bangalore through Consortium of Medical and Engineering Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) for postgraduate (MD and MS) medical courses.

The students said the college had charged them fees much in excess of what had been fixed by the Fee Committee.

They sought a direction to the college not to charge more than Rs. 3.76 lakh for degree courses in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and Rs. 2.82 lakh for diploma courses.

They said last year they had paid Rs. 4.59 lakh for degree and Rs. 3.42 lakh for diploma courses.

They urged the court to ensure that the managements adjusted the excess money collected last year towards this year's fees and collect fees as fixed by the committee.

In the second petition, Sangamesh S. Kolliyavar and 11 others of Adi Chunchangiri Institute of Medical Sciences urged the court to direct the college to collect Rs. 2.40 lakh for postgraduate degree and Rs. 1.80 lakh for diploma courses for 2007-08 and 2008-09.

They said the college had collected Rs. 4.56 lakh for degree and Rs. 3.6 lakh for diploma courses as against a lesser fee fixed by the committee.

Nishant P. Panegoan and 40 others, all postgraduate students of HKES' M.R. Medical College, Gulbarga, have sought a direction to the management to collect Rs. 2.60 lakh for PG clinical degree, Rs. 1.95 lakh for PG diploma and Rs. 65,000 for paraclinical as against Rs. 4.56 lakh, Rs. 3.42 lakh and Rs. 1.14 lakh charged respectively.

In the fourth petition, Soumya N., and seven others of Ambedkar Medical College, Bangalore, have asked the court to ensure that the college collected Rs. 3.02 lakh for degree, Rs. 2.26 lakh for diploma and Rs. 75,000 for para-clinical courses.

Several other students too have challenged the higher fees collected by the colleges.