HYDERABAD: Seeking to know how the state can effect a fourfold increase in medical education fee without even consulting the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC), the Hyderabad high court on Thursday stayed a
Telangana government order that allowed private medical colleges in the state to increase the annual fee from Rs 5.85 lakh to Rs 25 lakh for postgraduate medical courses from this year.
The bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and J Uma Devi pronounced this interim order after hearing a petition filed by Y Anil Reddy who challenged GO No. 78 issued by the state’s medical, health and family welfare department on August 14, 2018. Petitioner’s counsel Sama Sandeep Reddy told the court that the state issued the GO hastily a week ago and that this is yet to be uploaded on the
public domain. “When there is a statutory body like AFRC to monitor the fee structure and to regulate any unwanted tendencies in the private sector, the state did not even consult it before issuing the GO,” he said. Even the GO did not refer to any of the fresh consultations made by the state with the AFRC. It merely refers to a GO issued in 2011 that fixed the fee at ?5.85 lakh per annum.
What makes the matter more intriguing is the fact that the fresh GO (GO Ms No 78) refers to a letter written by the chairman of
Deccan Institute of Medical Sciences to the government seeking enhancement of fee for PG medical courses. The increase should be effected through AFRC only and not unilaterally, he contended.
The bench, while staying the operation of the GO, ordered notices to the authorities and sought a counter from the special chief secretary of the state’s medical and health department within two weeks.
(Representative image)
