Fees remain contentious issue

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government will be going to the all-party meeting scheduled for Monday with a sigh of relief that it could get a favourable verdict from both the High Court and Supreme Court on 50 per cent government seats for post-graduate medical courses in self-financing colleges.However, the relief ends there. The contentious issue of fees structure for the PG courses will remain a headache. The four medical colleges under the Inter-Church Council have already made it clear that they would not agree to the fee structure announced by the Director of Medical Education (DME) in the Government Order issued on June 20. As per the order the fees structure for PG medical courses will be as follows: PG degree (clinical)- Rs 5 lakh, PG diploma (clinical)-Rs 2 lakh, PG degree (non-clinical)- Rs 3.75 lakh and PG diploma (non-clinical)-Rs 1.25 lakh.However, the Inter-Church Council argument is that as per the agreement with the previous LDF Government, the fees structure for the various colleges will be as follows: PG degree (clinical)- Rs 16 lakh, PG diploma (clinical)- Rs 12 lakh, PG degree (non-clinical)-Rs 8 lakh and PG diploma (non-clinical)-Rs 4 lakh.Then there is the allegation that the State Government is going soft on the Inter-Church Council on the issue of MBBS courses. The statement made by Finance Minister K M Mani that the status quo will prevail on the issue has irked other managements. This was because the Inter-Church Council had stayed away from the agreement with the previous LDF Government and admitted students to all seats on their own with a uniform fee. On the other hand, the other managements which entered into an agreement with the State Government had agreed for 50 per cent seats in government quota with fees substantially less than that in the management quota.Subsequently, MES president Faisal Gafoor came out against this statement. He made it clear that the MES will concede 50 per cent seats to the State Government for reduced fees only if the Inter-Church Council also entered into an agreement with the government this year.The Opposition in all likelihood will attack the State Government for its failure to address these issues during the all-party meeting.