NMC guidelines on reducing fee for 50% medical seats in private colleges not applicable to Kerala, says HC

In February, Prime Minister Modi had announced that 50 per cent of the fees in private medical institutes will be reduced to the fee level of government institutes. In March, the NMC announced that medical institutes will have to comply with this decision from the new academic year.

There are 85,000 medical seats in the country out of which half are in private colleges (41,190) and the other half in government colleges (43,237). “The students will first be given the seats at government medical colleges, their next option would be the seats in private medical colleges (at government determined fees) and then the rest of the private seats. All admissions will be through merit,” an NMC member had told Indian Express in March.

However, the Kerala HC bench led by Justice Devan Ramachandran said that since there is no government quota at private medical colleges in Kerala, the NMC guideline will not be applicable. The bench observed that the NMC guidelines said that “the benefit of this fee structure would be first made available to those candidates who have availed government quota seats…” In 2017, the Kerala government passed the Kerala Medical Education Act which did away with both government and management quota at all private medical colleges in the state, the bench observed.

The HC judgment said that in Kerala, the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC), established under the Kerala Medical Education Act, determines and regulates the fee charged by private medical colleges. It, however, asked the AFRC to abide by all other guidelines announced by the NMC. Justice Ramachandran noted in his judgment, “…the 25 guidelines or parameters issued in the Office Memorandum (by NMC) should be the guiding principle for the said committee (AFRC).”

The NMC guidelines state the determination of the fees for the other 50 per cent seats, not bound by the government fee, will be on a “not-for-profit” basis. It said the operating cost of the medical college will form the basis for the fee structure.

On the announcement of the new guidelines, The Indian Express had earlier reported that private medical colleges planned to pass on the cost incurred in subsidising these seats to the management quota seats. The executive director of a private medical college had said, “…it is natural that if fees for 50% of total intake capacity are to be reduced, then the cost needs to be offset, and it is likely that fees of management quota seats will become more expensive.”

The HC judgement also observed that the new NMC guidelines in Kerala may force medical colleges to offset the subsidy cost by increasing fee for the remaining 50% of the seats. “If the ‘OM’ directed to be in force in such a manner, it will indubitably lead to a piquant predicament where the fees for the balance 50% seats in the said colleges will have to be escalated because, otherwise, the institutions cannot sustain, especially since, even as on today the AFRC (Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee of Kerala) is fixing the minimum requisite fee for all students taking into account infrastructural investments, future prospects and such other criteria as are statutorily mandated, but ensuring there is absolutely no leeway for profiteering in any manner,” the judgment reads.

A total of three writ petitions were filed before the Kerala High Court regarding the guidelines issued by the NMC. Two of the writ petitions, seeking to bar the implementation of the guidelines, were filed by Associations and Federations of Management of Self-Financing Private Medical Colleges in the state. One petition was filed by Fathima Thazkiya, a 21-year-old medical student, seeking implementation of the NMC guidelines.