Andhra Pradesh HC quashes state order on fixing fee in medical colleges; chastises govt for not following due process

The Andhra Pradesh government's attempt to regulate the fee for medical and dental courses ran into a major roadblock on Wednesday, October 13, when the AP High Court quashed its order of April this year. GO No 42 sought to fix the fees for PG medical and dental courses for the block period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 at Rs 10,000 in Category A, which represents the convener quota, and at Rs 11 lakh for the management quota (Category B).

This came after a petition was filed in the High Court by the managements of dental and medical colleges, opposing the order with claims that it was in violation of the Supreme Court's directives, which said that suggestions should be taken from a committee set up for their respective states, which in turn is required to value in the opinions of the private medical colleges.

The High Court had earlier ordered the state to issue college-wise notices and invite opinions and objections from the colleges. The case was being heard by Justice R Raghunandhan Rao who pulled up the Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APHERMC) for not following the directives it was obliged to adhere to and cancelled the statement the commission had submitted to the state on the matter.

The court said that the government is now required to submit fresh fee structures in four weeks' time after sending individual notices to colleges for opinions and objections. The commission is required to consider these opinions while giving recommendations on the new fee structure. The government is also required to then inform colleges individually about the fresh orders.