KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday set aside the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee’s (AFRC) order to fix fees of self-financing medical colleges in the state. The court directed it to reconsider the decision and pass fresh order within two months. A Division Bench comprising Justice K Surendra Mohan and Justice Annie John issued the order while considering the petitions filed by college managements.
For the MBBS degree courses, the Committee had fixed the tuition fee at Rs 4.15 lakh per student for the 2016-17 academic year, Rs 4.80 lakh for 2017-18 and Rs 5.54 lakh for 2018-19. The college managements had challenged it.
The petitioners argued the fees would differ from college to college depending on the location, infrastructure and facilities offered. They pointed out the Supreme Court had held the Committee’s power was limited to examining whether a college was receiving capitation fees or indulging in profiteering. Hence fixing annual fee was beyond the panel’s scope.The court noted the orders by AFRC were passed by two or three members of the Committee. In some cases, the orders were signed by all five members.