HC strikes down PG super specialty fee hike order

HYDERABAD: Finding fault with the State of Telangana for effecting a 5-fold increase in the management quota tuition fee for postgraduate super speciality medical courses in private medical colleges in an abrupt manner and without referring the issue to the fee regulatory committee, the Telangana high court has struck down the fee hike order issued by the T State.

The bench of Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice P Keshava Rao pronounced this judgment after hearing a petition filed by Dr. Y Anil Reddy from Markapuram of Prakasham district in AP who is pursuing his super specialty course in Urology at Mamata medical college, Khammam.

The state of Telangana brought in GO Ms. No 78 on August 14, 2018, enhancing the fee for the postgraduate super specialty medical courses under management quota from Rs 5.85 lakh per annum to Rs 25 lakh per annum. This hike came into effect from 2018-19 academic year itself. The petitioner appeared for NEET-super specialty -2018 on July 6, 2018, and was allotted a seat in Urology at Mamata medical college, Khammam.

The first phase of counseling for these courses was held in the first week of August 2018 and the second phase of counseling was held in the third week of August. But, all of a sudden, the state brought in the fee enhancement GO after the first phase counseling was over and before the commencement of the second phase counseling.

The bench in its order said that though there is a fee regulatory committee headed by retired HC judges, the state did not consult the committee before bringing in the steep hike. The Supreme Court issued a judicial mandate in its judgment delivered in Islamic Academy Versus State of Karnataka to constitute fee regulatory and fixation committee and to act in accordance with the recommendations given by the committee.

The State threw to the winds the mandate given by the apex court while enhancing the fee for super specialty courses, the bench said. It also found fault with the undue haste with which the state acted immediately after it received a letter from Hyderabad based Deccan College of Medical Sciences that sought hike in the fee structure citing problems like escalating costs and non-revision of fee for a long time. The bench said that the state referred the matter to the committee but did not wait till the committee sends its recommendations. Brushing aside the Deccan College argument that colleges in the neighboring states had better fees, the bench said it cannot assume the role of a fee fixation committee. Stating that the state did not follow the procedure prescribed under the law, the bench has set aside the fee hike GO. The bench also directed the college to refund the excess money collected from the petitioner within four weeks.