HYDERABAD: In a relief to aspirants of post-graduate medical and dental courses, a division bench of the Telangana High Court (HC) on Wednesday directed students who come under category ‘A’ (convener quota), to pay 50 per cent of the enhanced fee. This is in addition to the fee prescribed in GO 29, dated May 2, 2016. The HC also asked them to submit a bond for the remaining 50 per cent in favour of medical colleges.
Further, the bench directed those who fall in category ‘B’ (management quota sub-category 1) to pay 60 per cent of the enhanced fee, in addition to the fee prescribed in the GO, and to give a bond for the remaining 40 per cent. The bench made it clear that the amount and the bond are subject to the final decision in the present case.
This decision would pave the way for admissions into private medical colleges. “Presently, this court is required to balance the conflicting interest of the students and medical colleges. Prima facie, there appears to be a steep increase in the fee. Considering the fact that the State and nation are passing through a critical phase…, and that the students and parents may find it extremely difficult … to muster up the entire fees…, we direct the petitioners to pay the fees as above,” the bench noted.
The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther passed this interim order in the writ petition filed by 121 medical students challenging the GO 20 issued by the State government on April 14. The GO recommended a higher fee structure for private unaided minority and non-minority professional medical and dental courses for the block period of 2020-2023.
Petitioners’ counsel S Sandeep Reddy told the HC that there has been a phenomenal increase in the fee of MD/MS/Diploma in medical courses. It is unclear on what grounds Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) hiked the fee to the maximum of 554.5 per cent in the convenor quota, and 313.8 per cent in the management quota.
Due to the petitioner students inability to deposit the entire fee, they are likely to lose their seat and would not be considered for the second counselling as per the rules. Despite the merit, the petitioners may be denied admission to these PG courses. As May 25 happens to be the last date for depositing the fee, the students would find it extremely difficult to comply with the medical colleges’ demands during the lockdown, he added, and urged the court to pass favourable orders.
Recent Random Post:
