The Supreme Court will hear the pleas challenging the validity of the order by the National Medical Commission (NMC) stating that 50 per cent of seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities should be at par with the fee in government medical colleges in that state or union territory, on October 21, 2022, as per LiveLaw.in.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, who was appearing on behalf of the petitioner — Association Of Health Sciences Institutes (AHSI), informed the Bench that since the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have stayed the operation of the notification in their respective states, the petitioners were constrained to approach the High Court seeking relief for medical institutes across the country, as per LiveLaw.in.

To reiterate, the Bill insists that the fee for 50 per cent of seats in private medical colleges and Deemed-to-be Universities must be on par with the fee in government medical colleges in the respective State or Union Territories, according to the memorandum issued in February this year.

Groups of private colleges in several states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala challenged the bill. In fact, the Madras High Court last month, while reserving order on a plea filed by a group of private medical colleges challenging this fee fixation, asked how the Council could charge more fees from 50 per cent of students and less from the other 50 per cent, as stated in a report by LiveLaw.in. It also asked how the system would work if the colleges were not able to fill the remaining 50 per cent of seats in the high fees category, the report stated.

Justice Chandrachud suggested Advocate Gaurav Sharma, who was appearing on behalf of the NMC, to file a transfer petition so that the Apex Court can transfer all the matters in this regard to itself or consolidate them and send it to the Delhi High Court or any other High Court for disposal, as stated in a report by LiveLaw.in.