Enrol candidates who were denied admission! Maha ARA Warns Medical, AYUSH Colleges of Disciplinary Action

Mumbai: Taking cognizance of the fact that several candidates were denied admission to seats allotted to them through NEET Counselling 2024, the State Admission Regulating Authority (ARA) in Maharashtra has warned to take disciplinary action against them if they fail to enroll those candidates.

The ARA action came after several students complained that some colleges demanded higher than the prescribed fees. Allegedly, these institutes refused to confirm the allotments to the students in the third and final admission rounds when the candidates informed them of their inability to pay the excess amount. 

As per the minutes of an ARA meeting held on Friday, ARA has now issued directions to a dozen medical colleges and AYUSH institutes in the State to enrol these candidates by October 27 evening or face disciplinary action, Careers 360 has reported.

Some months back, the State Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) imposed cap on the refundable 'deposit' or 'caution' money levied by health science institutes and prohibited them from charging the students under any head other than tuition and development fees and hostel and mess charges.

Also Read:Alleged Overcharging by 9 Medical Colleges in Maha, DMER orders inquiry

Careers 360 has reported that in the current admission cycle, ARA has so far received 25 grievances pertaining to eight medical, one dental, five ayurveda and one homoeopathy colleges. While some of these complaints have been resolved and few were adjudicated outside of its purview, the authority decided to intervene in the majority of the cases including those related to the documents.

As per the ARA meeting minutes, several colleges were charged for demanding five times the regular fees for the institutional-quota MBBS and dentistry seats, instead of the maximum three times allowed by the fee regulator. The list of these colleges includes Parbhani Medical College at Parbhani, Dhule-based ACPM Medical College, Sangli-based Prakash Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalna-based Indian Institute of Medical Science and Research (IIMSR), Pune-based Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research (MIMER), Raigad-based Dr NY Tasgaonkar Institute of Medical Science, and Terna Dental College at Navi Mumbai.

Even though in some instances, the aspirants were charged according to the norms, they were allegedly made to sign an undertaking stating that they would pay an additional amount later. However, ARA decided that these complaints were beyond its mandate and belonged to the FRA's province.

As per the Daily, ARA has received three complaints regarding Singhudurg-based SSPM Medical College, run by BJP leader and member of the parliament from the district, Narayan Rane and his family.

Two of the complainants- girls belonging to economically backward class (EBC) category alleged that the college asked them to pay the entire tuition fees amount. Such direction was given even though the State recently introduced 100% fee waiver for girls with family income less than Rs 8 lakh.

Later the college admitted two of the students, while ARA directed the authorities to admit the third student also. Similar allegations were leveled against the college in the previous two admission cycles as well.

Commenting on the matter, two complainants told Careers 360 that the college authorities not only asked them to pay the entire annual tuition fee of Rs 8 lakh, but also pay an additional equal amount for hostel and mess charges, even though FRA had issued directions against demanding these fees at the time of admission.

This is not the first time that there has been a conflict between the State agencies and the private medical colleges, including AYUSH institutes. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that MBBS admission at the private medical colleges in Maharashtra came to a halt as the Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges of the Maharashtra Government recently decided to stop the second round of the admission process of the first-year MBBS students over pending fee reimbursement issue.

Highlighting the pendency of hundreds of crores of rupees in the form of reimbursement of fees, the Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges (AMUPMDC) informed the Government that it was damaging the "sustainability" functioning of the colleges.

Meanwhile, following the decision by the private medical colleges to stop admissions on Thursday, the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell threatened to take legal action against the private medical and dental colleges for refusing to admit students.

Also Read: Maha Private Medical Colleges Stop MBBS Admissions over Pending Fee Reimbursement, State CET Cell Threatens Legal Action