Pay four times more for management seat in private medical colleges in Maharashtra

Institutes has asked the fee regulating authority to let them charge five times fees for management and NRI quota

Mumbai: Private medical institutes in Maharashtra have agreed to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research’s (DMER) proposal that colleges can charge up to four times their regular fees for management quota seats and up to five times for seats under the NRI quota.

Ongoing dispute between colleges and fee regulating body had jeopardised PG admissions. (Pic for representation)

The ongoing dispute had meant admission for these seats – 35% of postgraduate medical seats in private colleges come under the management quota – could not be finalised. Now, admissions can be completed since the DMER, the state Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) and private medical institutes has settled their differences for this academic year.

On Monday, PA Inamdar, representing the group of medical institutes, said, “Considering the limitation of time, we have to accept this proposal as we cannot postpone admissions any further. The state government refused to equate seats under management and NRI quota, so we had to accept this offer.”

Out of the 400 seats available in private institutes, 208 have already been filled through the Common Admission Process (CAP) while 192 in institutes that refused to take part in the CAP, remain vacant. “These students chose private colleges assuming they’ll be paying three times the regular fees but with this new rule, they will end up paying more. So we will give them a chance to once again re-think their decision, if they want to,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director of DMER. A new schedule would be released soon, he added.

In the first week of March, FRA had sent out a notice asking all private medical and dental institutes in the state to stick to common fees for all seats, including those under management and NRI quotas. The institutes insisted they be allowed to charge three times and five times the regular fees for management and NRI quotas respectively. After a series of meetings, the FRA allowed private institutes to continue charging three and five times the regular fees for both quotas, for 2018-19.

In the first week of April, the colleges sought permission for all their quota seats – which add up to 50% of total seats as 50% comprise merit seats – to be charged at five times the regular fees. “Last week itself we had offered them to accept our proposal of four times the regular fees for management seats, but they disagreed. After much consultation, they have finally agreed so that admissions don’t get affected,” said Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan. Inamdar said the institutes plan to push for five times the regular fees for management seats in the next academic year.