Bengaluru, Sep 2: Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Monday ordered the formation of a fee regulatory committee to monitor and regulate the fee structures of nursing colleges across the state amid complaints about exorbitant fees allegedly being charged by them.

During a review meeting of nursing institutions here, Patil disclosed that his office had received numerous complaints regarding the excessive fees charged by nursing colleges, which have placed a heavy financial burden on students.

The newly constituted five-member fee regulatory committee, headed by the Joint Secretary of the Medical Education Department, will be tasked with scrutinising the fee structures, he said.

“Withdraw the Essential Certificate and Feasibility Certificate (EC&FC) of any nursing college found imposing fees beyond the government-prescribed limits,” Patil instructed department officials.

According to him, Currently, the fee structure stands at Rs 10,000 per year for students admitted under the government quota, Rs one lakh under the management quota, and Rs 1.40 lakh for non-Karnataka students.

There are 35,000 seats available across 611 nursing colleges in the state.

Patil recently rejected a request from nursing college managements to increase the fee structure by 20 per cent.

The committee’s oversight will extend to both B.Sc. Nursing and General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) diploma programmes.

In addition, the Minister has directed the Principal Secretary of Medical Education, Mohammed Mohsin, to convene a meeting with district Deputy Commissioners to inspect the infrastructure and basic facilities at GNM colleges at the taluk and district levels.

The inspection reports are to be submitted within a month. For B.Sc. Nursing colleges, the Director of Medical Education, Dr B L Sujatha Rathod, was instructed to form a panel for inspection and submit a report promptly.

“We have received reports that many nursing colleges lack essential facilities, such as adequate teaching and non-teaching staff, libraries, laboratories, and hygiene standards. Despite charging substantial fees, they fail to provide the required facilities. Permission for such colleges should be withdrawn if they are found guilty,” Patil said during the meeting.

The Minister further directed officials to ensure that nursing institutions ran exclusively nursing courses. “Revoke the permissions of institutions that are conducting multiple courses in the same building,” he stated.

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Chennai (PTI): New entrant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay, was leading in as many as 83 constituencies on Monday when counting of votes polled in the April 23 Assembly polls was on across Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was leading in 58 seats while the ruling DMK was ahead in 34, EC data showed.

About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals-- the DMK and the AIADMK, with the ruling party struggling to catch up.

If the trends maintain, Vijay could as well ensure the biggest electoral upset, something in lines with the "1967,1977" wins he had referred to in his campaign speeches.

While the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai brought the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu post-independence in 1967, the charismatic MG Ramachandran (MGR) installed the maiden AIADMK government 10 years later, unseating then DMK government under M Karunanidhi. TVK was leading in most Chennai segments, all considered DMK strongholds and currently represented by the party in the 234-member House.

A poor show by DMK could belie most exit polls giving an edge to it, riding on the number of populist measures Chief Minister M K Stalin had implemented in his five year "Dravidian model," inclusive governance.

According to EC and TV reports, 15 cabinet ministers, including Stalin were trailing. His son and deputy CM Udhayanidhi was also behind in his incumbent Chepauk-Tirvuvallikeni seat, according to a number of reports.

Stalin was trailing behind TVK's VS Babu by 1234 votes in Kolathur segment. Vijay was ahead in Tiruchirappalli East by over 3,000 votes at the end of two rounds of counting, according to EC data.

BJP is trailing in 26 constituencies and it is ahead in Thali segment alone. TVK is ahead in constituencies including Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Poonamalle, and Avadi.

AIADMK is leading in segments including Katpadi, and Guidyattam and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is ahead in Edappadi segment by 7003 votes.

DMK was leading in segments including Vellore, Anaikattu and Rishivandiyam.