Thiruvananthapuram: Self-financing dental colleges in Kerala can charge Rs 2.5 lakh as fee in 85 percent of seats, the Justice R Rajendra Babu committee has ordered. The managements had asked for fees as high as Rs 4 lakh but the government put its foot down and left a decision to the committee.
The managements said that they were not ready for a showdown with the government and they would abide by the committee’s order.
The managements, however, have been allowed to continue collecting up to Rs 6 lakh as fee in the remaining 15 percent of seats reserved for non-resident Indians.
As per last year’s fee structure, the managements could collect Rs 5 lakh in 35 percent seats reserved for them and Rs 2.1 lakh in 30 percent seats filled in accordance with the merit list. Students from the SEBC communities had 13 percent seats reserved for them and they had to pay only Rs 44,000 as fee. The 7 percent seats reserved for students from below-poverty line families had a fee of Rs 23,000.
The Rajendra Babu committee’s order is applicable to all self-financing dental colleges and deemed universities in the state. The committee found that the average fee from non-NRI seats added up to Rs 2.47 lakh in the previous years.
The BDS courses don’t have an option to grant scholarship as in MBBS. The fee has been fixed in accordance with the revenue and expenses of the colleges. Only three colleges have submitted details of their expenses. The other colleges have been given two months to furnish the data.
Many of the seats in the self-financing dental colleges had remained vacant in the previous years. The representatives of managements will meet on Thursday to discuss the order, Self-Financing Dental College Management Association president K M Pareeth said.
