The complications surrounding fee structure of private medical and dental colleges never seems to end.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to file an affidavit regarding its stand on the de-affiliation status of the five universities which claimed to have acquired the deemed university status in last August.
The claim of five private colleges that they have got deemed status from the University Grants Commission (UGC) was challenged by Parents Association of Medical Students (PAMS) after the MUHS refused to de-affiliate these colleges.
The colleges – three private colleges run by the Dr DY Patil Trust and two colleges run by the Mahatma Gandhi Mission Trust – stated that the fee structure prescribed by the Supreme court directed state-appointed Shikhshan Shulkh Samiti (SSS) will not apply to them as they are deemed universities.
Advocate LM Acharya, appearing for petitioners PAMS, argued that although the five medical and dental colleges claimed that they have been granted deemed university status by the UGC, they are yet affiliated to the MUHS. Till the MUHS de-affiliates them, they are not considered as independent universities, he argued.
Contrary to the claims of the five colleges, the MUHS, in a letter dated January 3, 2007, stated that it has not de-affiliated any medical or dental college and given it the status of deemed university.
{{/usCountry}}Contrary to the claims of the five colleges, the MUHS, in a letter dated January 3, 2007, stated that it has not de-affiliated any medical or dental college and given it the status of deemed university.
{{/usCountry}}After going through the letter, a division bench of Justice FI Rebello and Justice RV More directed the MUHS to file its affidavit in two weeks time.
In November 2006, the HC had asked the fee committee to finalise its fee structures by December 31, 2006, which would be applicable to all the medical and dental colleges in the state.
These five medical and dental colleges had refused to follow the fee structure stating that they are deemed universities and hence not bound by the prescribed fee structure.
PAMS had challenged this stand of these five medical and dental colleges as they were charging higher fees to the students.
Email Urvi Jappi: urvi.jappi@hindustantimes.com