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| Friday, July 27, 2007
SFI moves court against fees fixed for three medical colleges
Chennai: The Student Federation of India (SFI) has moved the
Madras High Court seeking to declare the fee structure prescribed
by the Statutory Committee for three private medical colleges
in the State as illegal and arbitrary.
The First Bench, before which the petition filed by G. Selva,
secretary of the Tamil Nadu chapter of SFI, came up for hearing
on Thursday, said it would hear the matter along with other
connected writ petitions on August 6.
As against the fee of Rs. 1.3 lakh last year, the Permanent
Committee for Fixation of Fees in Self-Financing Professional
Colleges fixed a fee ranging from Rs. 2.25 lakh to Rs. 3. lakh
for the Sri Mookambigai Institute of Medical Sciences, PSG Institute
of Medical Science and Research and Chettinad Hospital and Research
Institute.
Verification
Describing it as exorbitant and arbitrary, as it had been fixed
without any physical verification of the facilities available
in the institutions, the petitioner prayed for an interim injunction
restraining the colleges from collecting fees over and above
Rs. 1.3 lakh from students.
Mr. Selva contended that some of these colleges had collected
Rs. 4 lakh from students last year and that they were insisting
on a similar payment this year. “It is impermissible.
The parents have to sell their small property and personal jewellery.
In that case, the right to occupation of the colleges will become
more important that the right to education…” he
said.
Huge escalation
The Committee had “unfortunately” not taken into
account the representations of the SFI and parents with regard
to fee structure revision, he said, adding, “the Committee
failed to see that when it had fixed Rs. 1.3 lakh in 2004, the
escalation cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be 80 per
cent to 110 per cent higher than the earlier fee…”
The Committee had failed in its duty to assess the exact requirement
of the respective colleges in a neutral manner, he said, adding
that experts should have visited the premises and verified the
records as well as the infrastructure, as laid down by the Supreme
Court.
The students should have been heard, he added.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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