More than two-fold hike in fee for 75 govt quota medical seats at Adesh

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, August 24

In a jolt to the medical aspirants, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) today issued a notice stating that the MBBS students will have to pay Rs 58.02 lakh as full course fee even for 75 government quota seats at Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR), Bathinda.

The AIMSR has 150 MBBS seats, which include 75 government, 53 management and 22 NRI quota seats.

According to a notification issued by the Department Medical Education and Research (DMER) on August 9, the students were asked to pay Rs 22,54,100 full course fee for 75 MBBS government quota seats. For management and NRI quota seats, the fee was Rs 58.02 lakh and USD 1.10 lakh, respectively.

However, the BFUHS on Saturday evening issued a notice, stating that even on the 75 government quota seats, the students will have to pay fee equivalent to the management quota.

Rakesh Gorea, Registrar, BFUHS, said, “We have issued this notice in the wake of the Punjab and Haryana High Court order passed on August 23. The AIMSR will collect the fee prescribed for the management quota seats even in respect of government quota from the candidates. The students have been advised to alter their choices, if they intend to do so.”

The high court had directed that the AIMSR would be permitted to charge the management quota fee from the students taking admission under the government quota subject to the stipulation that the differential amount quo the government quota seats would be kept, within two weeks of the completion of the admission process, in a fixed deposit by the medical college in its name. Also, a copy of the fixed deposit, which cannot be encashed till further order, needs to be furnished to the Medical Education Department.

The AIMSR claimed that such appropriation of seats by the state government for unaided private educational institutions was “impermissible”.

Rs 63.93L sought in prospectus

In its prospectus, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda, has shown ~63,93,930 as full course tuition fee for 128 seats. For 22 NRI quota seats, the fee is $1.25 lakh.