Chennai: The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DME&R) has constituted a five-member committee to investigate complaints that five private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu charged students fees exceeding the limits approved by the government for undergraduate medical courses.

The inquiry follows complaints submitted to the Chief Minister's Special Cell and the Directorate of Medical Education and Research alleging that the institutions collected fees beyond those prescribed by the government-appointed fee fixation committee.

Director of Medical Education and Research Dr R. Suganthy Rajakumari said the committee, comprising deans of government medical colleges, has been asked to complete its inquiry and submit a report within a week. Based on its findings, the state government will decide on further action.

Under the fee structure approved by the government, the annual tuition fee for MBBS courses in government medical colleges is fixed at ₹18,073, while BDS courses cost ₹16,073 per year.

For government quota seats in self-financing medical colleges, MBBS fees range between ₹4.35 lakh and ₹5.40 lakh annually, while BDS fees are capped at ₹2.50 lakh per year.

Private medical colleges are permitted to charge ₹15 lakh to ₹16.2 lakh annually for MBBS management quota seats and ₹27 lakh to ₹30 lakh for NRI quota seats. For BDS courses, the approved fees are ₹6 lakh under the management quota and ₹9 lakh under the NRI quota. Colleges are also required to publish any additional charges, including hostel, transport and food fees, on their official websites.

The development comes after the National Medical Commission (NMC) recently directed all medical colleges to collect MBBS tuition fees only for the 4.5-year academic programme and not for the compulsory internship period.

Officials said the committee's findings will also be submitted to the Chief Minister's Special Cell, where the complaints were initially lodged, and further action will be taken based on the inquiry report.