PG medical admissions: Madras HC Restrains Puducherry Govt from Enforcing New Fee Order in Private Medical Colleges
Puducherry: The Puducherry Government is no longer allowed to enforce the newly introduced fee structure of August 18, 2023, for post-graduate medical students joining the courses in the academic year 2023-2024, as the Madras High Court bench on Friday issued a directive in this regard and restrained the Government from doing so.
The HC bench of Justice R Suresh Kumar issued this interim order while considering a contempt plea filed by a private medical college in Puducherry. Meanwhile, the HC bench has clarified that the educational institutes are at liberty to collect fees as per the previous fee structure, which was fixed by the Fee Committee led by a Former Judge of the HC for the academic year 2022-2023.
Therefore, the Centralised Admission Committee of the Puducherry Government (CENTAC), the authority responsible for collection of fees, has been instructed by the HC bench to follow the fee structure prevailing before the August 18 order or allow the medical institutes to collect fees according to the former fee structure.
The HC bench has clarified that this interim order directive shall remain into effect pending the outcome of both the ongoing contempt petition and the main plea. In the main plea, the fee structure of the Government issued on October 28, 2022, which was valid for a three-year period, has been challenged.
While issuing the interim order, Justice R Suresh Kumar also opined that the order of the Government was in violation of the Court's order dated November 4, 2022.
As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, the primary plea was filed by a private medical college, which challenged the fee order of the Puducherry Government from October 28, 2022. The college challenged this fee order as it alleged that the fee structure did not adhere to the fee structure set by the Fee Committee.
When the fees fixed by the Fee Committee prescribing higher fees upset the public, the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Minister formulated a new fee structure and issued orders on October 28, 2022. However, this was challenged before the High Court bench.
Previously, intervening in the matter, the Court on November 04,2022 had issued an interim stay on the implementation of the Government's fee order dated October 28, 2022, which had unilaterally established a different fee structure for the medical courses.
Back then, the HC bench ordered that for the academic year 2022-2023, the fee structure set by the Fee Committee led by the Former Judge of the High Court should be followed.
When the academic year 2023-2024 commenced and admissions set to begin as well, there was no finalized fee structure in place because of the ongoing court proceedings.
Responding to this, the Government released an interim fee order on August 18, 2023. This order was issued to facilitate the commencement of the admission process.
However, this fee structure was also challenged by Kamalanathan, the counsel for the private medical colleges. The colleges contended that the new fee structure implemented by the Government contradicted the interim order issued by the Court on November 04, 2022.
While considering the matter, the Madras HC bench on August 25, 2023, restrained the Government from implementing the new fee structure and clarified that the fee structure that was established by the Fee Panel in the year 2022 shall remain in effect until a final verdict is given in the ongoing plea.
