Kerala: Opposition plays up self-financing fee row

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Assembly proceedings were cut short on Wednesday after Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan turned down an adjournment motion moved by Congress legislator V D Satheesan on the “exorbitant” fee charged by medical self-financing colleges in the state. Mr Satheesan alleged that it was the Chief Minister's private secretary who struck a deal with medical college managements to increase MBBS fee to 55 lakh and Rs one crore for five years. “The health minister and additional chief secretary were made to look like mere spectators as the Chief Minister's office called the shots,” Mr Satheesan said.

The Chief Minister did not reply to the charge. Health minister K K Shylaja, too, did not refer to Satheesan’s pointed charge during her reply. “There is nothing that the government can do except wait for the High Court verdict,” Ms Shylaja said. The Supreme Court, in its verdict on August 14, said that the fee of Rs 11 lakh would hold till the High Court issued its final verdict.

Mr Satheesan alleged that the state government’s lawyer failed to inform the apex court about the nuances of the agreement the state had entered into with three self-financing medical college managements. The apex court, in its verdict, had allowed self-financing medical colleges that had not signed an agreement with the state government on fee structure to charge Rs 11 lakh as admission fee. Satheesan said the government’s agreement had three slabs; Rs 25,000, Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 11 lakh. “If the state’s lawyer had told the court about the lower slabs, the Supreme Court would not have issued such a verdict,” he said. 

The other charge by Satheesan was that the allotment was not done simultaneously for government and self-financing medical colleges. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala later said that had both the allotment been carried out at the same time, even the Supreme Court would not have struck down the Rs 5 lakh fee recommended by the Fee Regulatory Commission.

Health minister Shylaja said it would be naive to fault the government for this. “It has become almost routine for managements to move the court when a fee structure is announced. But the government has to go ahead with the allotment process,” she said. Satheesan then alleged things went wrong after the CM’s Office intervened. “A fee of Rs 11 lakh will force many eligible students to back out of the admission. And this will come in handy for managements to admit lower-ranked children at higher fee,” Satheesan said.