Maharashtra: Medical College Gets Delisted for allegedly Overcharging PG Medicos, Moves HC
Overcharging Fees
Mumbai: After being delisted by the Fee Regulating Authority, Maharashtra over the allegations of charging postgraduate medical students higher than approved fees, Sangli-based Prakash Institute of Medical Science and Research has now approached the Bombay High Court challenging the FRA's decision.
Granting the counsel for FRA to take instructions, the HC bench comprising Justices Rajesh S. Patil and A.S. Chandurkar has listed the matter for further hearing on 20th January 2025.
"Time is granted to the learned counsel for the respondent no.3 to take instructions. Put up for further consideration on 20th January 2025," the HC bench mentioned in its order dated 19.12.2024.
FRA took action against the college after several postgraduate medical students, who were allotted seats in the college's Doctor of Medicine/Master of Surgery (MD/MS) programmes through the State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra, approached the Authority with complaints of overcharging.
This year, the ad-hoc fee for PG medical courses was fixed at Rs 10.5 lakh by the FRA, however, the college mentioned Rs 16 lakh as the annual fee on its official website.
As per the latest media report by Free Press Journal, the students claimed that initially, the college had displayed an approved ad-hoc fee of Rs 10.5 lakh per year for the institutional quota seats on its website. However, after the commencement of the admission process, the college revised the fee to Rs 16 lakh per year, demanding a total payment of Rs 64 lakh for the entire course.
Due to this discrepancy students were left to a difficult position and some of them sought clarification from the FRA in this regard.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that raising these complaints many students complained to the GRC that the institute was charging excessive fees. Consequently, the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of the State FRA asked the institute to follow the ad-hoc fees fixed by the body for the MD/MS courses offered by the college from this year. GRC had clarified that "the ad-hoc fee will be binding on the college unless explicitly modified by the FRA".
Meanwhile, FPJ has reported that even though the FRA had directed students to pay the fees approved by them, the college allegedly refused to grant admission unless students paid the higher fees displayed on the website.
Apart from asking the college to charge the originally displayed ad-hoc fee of Rs 10.5 lakh, the FRA also allowed the college to secure an undertaking from the students specifying that any difference between the ad-hoc and final fees approved by the FRA would be payable or refundable, depending on the final decision taken by FRA. However, none of these directives were effective as the college maintained its stance and denied to comply with the directions of FRA. Following this, the Fee Regulating Authority delisted the college.
Commenting on the matter, medical education activist Brijesh Sutaria criticised the college's handling of the fee structure and said, "Why wasn’t the fee discrepancy resolved by the college before the admission process began? Aspirants who checked the college website found that the fees being charged were significantly higher than those fixed by the FRA. This left many students in a dilemma, as the fees exceeded their budget." He further told FPJ that "This situation caused unnecessary stress and confusion for the aspirants."
Highlighting the exploitation of loopholes in the ad-hoc fee system, Sudha Shenoy, a medical education counsellor said, "The colleges which have got fresh approval for PG admissions, like the Prakash medical college, are claiming ad-hoc fees. Their fees are not decided by the FRA in the first two years, that’s why FRA approves ad-hoc fees. But the colleges are exploiting the loopholes in the ad-hoc system. A student told me that ad-hoc fees for a college were ₹36 lakh for the entire course, but the college demanded ₹44 lakh, claiming that the FRA will soon approve ₹44 lakh. The students suffer due to these things. The FRA must ensure that no college is able to change the fee structure once the admission process commences. The FRA must decide the fees before the admission process starts."
