The Centre has filed a counter affidavit to the pleas challenging the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) decision which states that the fee of 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities "should be at par with the Fee in the Government Medical Colleges of a particular State”. The Counter affidavit was filed yesterday, September 21.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, who is appearing on behalf of the petitioners, made a mention of the NMC circular during the course of the hearing. Justice DY Chandrachud has adjourned the matter for hearing on Friday, next week, September 29. The matter dates back to February 3, 2022, when NMC brought out the notice.
While Madhya Pradesh has already issued a notification on September 13 to implement this fee regulation notice, private colleges from Tamil Nadu and Kerala have challenged it. A few weeks ago, the Kerala High Court ordered that the NMC notice would not be applicable to the state of Kerala. Meanwhile, states like Tamil Nadu already have fee regulatory committees in colleges that fix the fee structure, informed Manickavel Arumugam, a NEET expert and Founder of JustGetMBBS, in an earlier interview with EdexLive.
The NMC notice states that the move “envisages the benefit of such a fee structure would be first made available to those candidates who have availed Government quota seats but limited to the extent of 50% of the total sanctioned strength of the respective medical college/deemed university."
