SFMC managements demands uniform fee for all

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Self-financing Medical Colleges Managements Association which had entered into an agreement with the State Government last year on admissions, has put forward a fresh demand.  The Association representatives informed the Cabinet sub-committee at a meeting on Tuesday that they would enter into an agreement with the government this year only if the same fees is collected for all seats in both management and government quota in all other colleges including those under the Inter-Church Council and the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIMS), Kochi, and cooperative medical colleges. The association took the stand that there was no point in holding talks if the Inter-Church Council and the AIMS did not participate. The association submitted two proposals before the government on admission procedures.One proposal was for a uniform fees structure of Rs 3.5 lakh for both government and management quota seats in self-financing medical colleges. The managements were even willing to provide fees concession by way of scholarships for students belonging to the BPL families.The other proposal was a Karnataka-model fee structure. Under this, the fees structure was for a seat distribution on the basis of 60:40 for management and government quota seats. In this case, a reduced fees for government quota seats was acceptable. For the management quota, 15 percent seats will be NRI quota seats.They also demanded that 10 percent seats will be earmarked as privilege quota seats from the seats allotted to management quota.The seat breakup for minority institutions will be 75:25 in management and government quota. The Inter- Church Council representatives stayed away from the talks alleging that the Government had not given them proper intimation about the venue of the meeting.Finance Minister K M Mani told reporters after the meeting that discussions with the managements would continue.