Structure of fees for SFI, state run colleges announced
The state level fees committee appointed by the government in pursuance of the Supreme Court directives in T.M.A. Pai case declared the long awaited fee structure for the medical, dental and physiotherapy courses run by the government as well as self-financed institutes on Friday.

The revised fee structure will be effective from the academic year 2003-04. If the fees are charged in excess by any institute, the same will have to be refunded or adjusted in the fees due for next term, according to an official notification from deputy secretary, health and family welfare department, Gujarat government.

As per the notification, the annual fees for the medical, dental and physiotherapy courses run by the self-financed institutes will be Rs 1,15,000, Rs 70,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively. Likewise, the annual fees to be charged by government run colleges will be Rs 6,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 for the medical, dental and physiotherapy courses respectively.

The fees prescribed under various categories including for seats under the management quotas are not negotiable. The institutes can charge lower amount than the prescribed fees without approval from the state government provided the reduced fees are widely publicised before inviting applications for admissions. This has been done to maintain transparency in admission process and to offer equal opportunities to all the candidates seeking admission, according to the notification.

The self-financed institutes cannot take any bank guarantee or deposits from any students including those admitted under the management quota, the notification stated.

Fees will be collected on semester or term basis and no other fees under head like library fees, hospital fees, laboratory fees, campus fees, campus development fees can be collected. However, the institute can charge reasonable gymkhana fees, university enrolment fees and examination fees, according to the notification.

For the students repeating a paper or term, the institute can charge 25 per cent of the total fees of the course from the student. The institutes cannot charge fees for internship from the students passing from Gujarat state medical, dental or physiotherapy courses. However, students passing from states other than Gujarat and seeking internship in self financed institute in the state will have to pay internship fees, according to the notification.

The self-financed institutes can charge reasonable fees for hostels after being approved by the concerned university.

The fees collected should be deposited in a designated nationalised bank in the institute’s account, which should be operated jointly by the principal or dean and the accounts officer of the institute.

The self-financed institutes will have to furnish a certificate from chartered accountant stating the fees collected are being used for salaries, contingency and making up depreciation, according to the notification.

The self-financed institutes will have to furnish the names of faculty members with their designation, pay scales, total emoluments, deductions at the end of each term.

As mentioned in the notification, the self financed institutes of medical, dental and physiotherapy courses should create a scholarship fund for the poor students or whose income is less for which the institutes can charge 5 per cent of the fees over and above the prescribed fees by the government from the students of management quota seats only.

The institutes will have to declare the names of the recipient of scholarships and inform the additional director, medical education and research, commissioner of health and the state government about the beneficiaries, the notification stated. The institutes can utilise the scholarship fund for scholarships only and compliant against misuse will be dealt firmly by the government.

Republished from The Asian Age