KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday nullified a section in the Act related to the admission and fees of self-financing medical colleges (SFMCs) which authorises the state government to enter into an agreement with one or more medical educational institutions regarding fees, seat sharing or any other matter.The court declared Section 17 of the Kerala Medical Education (Regulation and Control of Admission to Private Medical Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 is ‘ultra vires’ and ‘unenforceable.’ However, the court retained the power vested with the fees regulatory committee to determine the fees under the Act.
A Division Bench passed the order while partially allowing a batch of petitions challenging the provisions of the Act. The court held the provisions of Section 8 (1) (a) read with Section 11 of the 2017 Act are not ‘ultra vires.’ The institution will propose the fees and the committee will fix it by deleting elements of profiteering and capitation fees, but leaving a reasonable surplus.
The state government had contended it had the power to introduce regulatory measures to ensure the fees was unexploited, non-profiteering and there will not be any capitation fees. Besides, the regulation was not an interference with the fundamental rights of the institutions. It never takes away the individual right of the institution to make suggestions on the fees, the government stated.
At the same time, the court invalidated section (8)(1)(b) of the Act regarding the provisional fixation of fees in SFMCs by the fees regulatory committee. However, the court observed no order has to be passed with regard to the provisional fees already fixed as it was a fait accompli. The court directed the fees regulatory committee to finalise the fees immediately, if not already done, within the prescribed period.
The court also declared ultra vires the provision which asked the committee to take into account factors such as location, nature of course etc while determining the fees structure. It directed the state government to reconsider composition of the committee members as provided under Section 3(2) of the Act. The fixing of a quorum for the meeting of the committee at four as provided under section 5(3) was also found to be ultra vires.
Court verdict not a setback to Govt: Health Minister
T’Puram: Health Minister K K Shylaja has said the High Court verdict on the self-financing medical college issue was not a setback to the government. Addressing media persons, she said the Supreme Court had already made it clear a cross-subsidy will not be accepted. “The government has no right to fix the fee. Only the Fee Regulatory Authority has the power to do so,” she said.
Asked whether the government would file an appeal against the verdict that it was unconstitutional for the government to enter into an agreement with the medical college management in fixing the fee, she said the government can take a decision only after studying the judgment. She said the government had entered into an agreement with three of the colleges as they had volunteered to charge only at the rate of the previous years’ fee. But two of the colleges withdrew from the agreement, the Minister said.
‘Judgment in favour of govt’
The Advocate General’s office informed the High Court judgment was in favour of the government in general. The decision on filing appeal against nullification of Section 17 of the Act before the Supreme Court will be finalised in consultation with the government.