Medical College demands 50 percent Private seat fee, Govt quota MBBS candidates in dilemma

This has landed around 30 MBBS students in trouble as they are now being asked to pay Rs 6.3 lakh fees against Rs 1.4 lakh, which is the prescribed fees for the government-quota seats, adds TOI.

Although the medical education department of the State has assured to look into the issue, the college has clarified that they are unwilling to reduce fees as they are following an agreement that had earlier been executed with the Government.

The confusion initiated as the Karnataka Examinations Authority had mentioned in its website that the fees for the government quota seats in the medical college is Rs 1,44,246. During the time of seat allotment, the website of the college had mentioned it to be Rs 3,24,246.

Even though the students could not understand what the additional Rs 1.8 lakh was for, they assumed it to be the fees that all the medical colleges charge over and above the fees needed to be paid at the KEA.

However, on February 14, the college increased the total fees to Rs 6.3 lakh, and the students termed it to be "unfair".

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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the college defended its stand by referring to an agreement made between KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, a deemed-to-be university, to which the college was affiliated to and the state government.

According to the agreement, the state had previously issued essentiality certificate and feasibility certificate for commencing the medical college with an intake capacity for 150 MBBS seats. However, there was a condition that in return, the college will give 25% of the total seats to the State Government and the students who will secure seats under the State-quota will be liable to pay 50% of the fees fixed for the private management quota seats.

At the medical college the fees for the private quota seats, which gets determined by the fee fixation committee of the state government, is Rs 9.94 lakh. So, automatically, the 50% of the fees means, Rs 4.97 lakh. Referring to this agreement, which has been mentioned in a letter written by the government to the secretary of the state health department, the University in a public notice asked the students to pay "Rs 4.97 lakh plus other permissible fees."

When the students raised the issue, the Karnataka Examinations Authority gave them a special chance to change their options from the medical college and enter the options of other medical colleges.

While commenting on the matter, Ramya S, the executive director of KEA told the daily, "It was circumstances beyond their control. They opted for the college, thinking the fees is a particular amount. When they know that the fees is much more, they may not be in a position to pay. As a special case, we called them to the KEA office, gave a relaxation to enter options of other colleges and bring down KLE College as option number 2. The results of the second round of allotment will be available in the next few days."

She further informed the daily that they will carry a disclaimer on their website regarding the fees for this medical college to be specific.

Meanwhile, the principal secretary of medical education, Naveen Singh told the daily that the college could charge only Rs 1.4 lakh for those pursuing their education under the government quota seats.

"When all others have paid only so much, how can they alone charge more? We have been in talks with the college. We will take a call on it soon," he added.

The medical college, on the other hand, is against reducing the fees. Speaking to TOI regarding the issue, Prabhakar Kore, the chairman of KLE Society, which sponsors the deemed-to-be University said, "We, as a deemed-to-be university, do not have to give seats to the state government. But we decided to give seats for Karnataka students under the condition that we will be able to charge half the private seats fees. The government itself has prescribed Rs 9 lakh as fee for private-quota seats, so half of that is Rs 4.5 lakh. We're even ready to give 50% seats to the Karnataka government. There is no secrecy about this. This was discussed over three meetings attended by the then chief minister, the chief secretary and the medical education secretary, among others. Now that the new secretary and DME have come, they're raising an issue."

"I cannot run the medical college at such low fees. The first phase of building the hospital has cost us Rs 400 crore. The cost is very high. It is not that I am running a corporate hospital in Bengaluru," he added.

Usually, the colleges get show-cause notices by the admission overseeing committee for overcharging students. However, the daily adds that the committee has clarified that it will not be able to do it in this case as the government has already agreed for such fees. So, the issue needs to be sorted out by the Government itself.