Palghar college gets fee rule exemption; parents to plan to challenge decision in court

Days after the state medical education department exempted Palghar-based Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), a college registered under the Companies Act, from following rules set by the Fee Regulating Authority (FRA), parents of students studying at the institute are planning to challenge this decision in court.

On Monday, the state medical education department received a representation of parents whose children are currently studying at the institute.

“We are examining this request and it looks like we will need to consider opinions of other departments before taking a call on this,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, state medical education secretary.

He added the Maharashtra government is yet to take a final call on the parents’ request.

In 2017, VIMS became the first institute in Maharashtra to be registered under the Companies Act, meaning a for-profit education institute.

Last year, the institute had sent a proposal to FRA seeking permission to charge Rs14 lakh per annum to students, however, the FRA recommended that they cap their fees at Rs6 lakh per annum.

With the recent decision of the state government to exempt the institute from FRA rules now leaves it along with deemed institutes, who can decide their own fee structure and not wait for the approval of state.

“We are already paying a lot and if the state allows a free hand to the management of Vedantaa Institute, we might end up paying more fees than what we are already paying. We request the government to exempt us from any more fee hikes,” said a parent of a student studying at the institute.

Close to 120 students were given admission to the institute in the first batch in 2017.

The institute’s dean, Dr Ganesh Kesari refused to comment on this issue, despite repeated attempts.