Private colleges can collect MBBS fees only for 4.5 years, NMC tells Kerala HC

Kochi: National Medical Commission (NMC) has filed a statement before high court in a petition filed by Kerala Private Medical College Management Association, asserting that the petitioners have no authority to collect tuition fees for a period exceeding 4.5 years, the prescribed academic duration of the MBBS course.The statement was filed in response to the association’s petition challenging NMC’s notice directing medical colleges to refund fees collected for an additional six-month period from MBBS students on the ground that the duration of the MBBS course is 4.5 years and not five years. The association contended that it had collected only the fee prescribed by the fee regulatory committee and that NMC’s direction to refund the fee collected for the additional six months would impose a substantial financial burden on its member institutions.However, NMC stated that the fee regulatory committee is empowered to determine and regulate fees only for the duration of the medical course prescribed by the commission. It submitted that the authority to prescribe the duration of a medical course is vested exclusively in the NMC. Consequently, the fee regulatory committee cannot alter or determine the duration of the course and is required to fix the fee in accordance with the duration prescribed by the commission.

NMC further stated that it had issued the notice after receiving complaints from several students alleging that medical colleges in Kerala had collected fees for an additional six months in violation of the statutory provisions. The students also sought action against the colleges concerned and requested a refund of the excess fee collected.Earlier, HC had stayed the operation of the impugned notice issued by NMC for a period of three months. The case is scheduled to be considered on July 6.