Mumbai: In what appears to be a fallout of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Post Graduation (NEET-PG) cut-off being reduced to 'zero' percentile, several medical colleges in the state multiplied their fees for PG courses in the middle of the admission process.
The sudden hike, which largely affects the institute and non-resident Indian (NRI) quota seats of non-clinical branches, came before the third and final regular round of admission, where the selected candidates are required to confirm their allotted seats, lest they be removed from the counselling process. Many of the aspirants that had applied to these colleges are in a fix, as they find themselves unable to shell out the additional amount being demanded by the colleges.
The hike, which ranges anywhere from Rs 3 to 22 lakh, comes days after the union Health Ministry brought down the cut-off for qualifying percentile for NEET-PG to zero across all categories, making all the aspirants eligible for admission. While the decision brought relief to many of the candidates, it also drew criticism flak from some quarters, who claimed that it would bring down the standard of medical education. They believe that the admission criterion was relaxed at the behest of medical colleges, who wanted to fill all their seats, especially in the relatively less popular non-clinical departments.
The sudden hike largely affects the institute and non-resident Indian (NRI) quota seats of non-clinical branches. |
Students Left in Lurch
Most of the colleges have hiked the fees for the 35% institute quota and 15% NRI quota seats in non-clinical branches such as Pathology, Physiology, Anesthesiology and Community Medicine. Some colleges have increased the state quota fees, too. The colleges had earlier set comparatively lower fees for these branches, as they often have fewer takers. The revised fees are within the limits set by the state Fee Regulating Authority (FRA), which allows colleges to charge four times and five times the state quota seats for institute and NRI quota seats, respectively.
The Medical Counseling Committee of the Directorate General of Health Council Services, on Saturday, released a notice, asking candidates to check the new fees structure of colleges before applying for the upcoming stray vacancy round for the All India seats. However, many of the candidates participating in the state admission process were in the dark about the fee revision when they filled their choices for the third admission round.
A candidate, who had selected many of the college-specialisation combinations that faced fee hikes, says that he won't be afford the fees if he gets one of the affected seats, and as a result, will be thrown out of the process. "We didn't know about the revised fees as had referred to the earlier fee structure uploaded by the colleges. Why would one keep checking the college websites? Besides, there was no intimation by the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell. What's our fault?" he said.
Authorities Refuse to Intervene
An official from the Cell said that they are unable to intervene as the issue pertains to FRA.
Justice Vijay Achliya (Retd.), chairperson of FRA, said that the authority doesn't have a role to play in the matter. "The colleges have a right to charge the fees within the FRA's limits. We will act if there's a complaint about the colleges charging over and above the limits," he said.
However, Muzaffar Khan, a medical education counsellor, said that revising the fees in the middle of the counselling process is unfair to the students. "The colleges hiked the fees as they realised that they would now be able to extract more money from the lower rank candidates, who wouldn't have been selected earlier. If the Cell had issued a notice before filling of the third round form filling, the students would have made informed choices," he said.
