Karnataka govt. cracks down on nursing colleges charging exorbitant fees
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 Permission for such colleges should be withdrawn if they are found guilty,” Patil said during the meeting.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.
ಇಂದು ವಿಕಾಸಸೌಧದಲ್ಲಿ ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಇಲಾಖೆಯ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮಹತ್ವದ ಸಭೆ ನಡೆಸಿದೆ.
— Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil (@S_PrakashPatil) September 2, 2024
ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ನರ್ಸಿಂಗ್ ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳ ಶುಲ್ಕ ನಿಯಂತ್ರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಕೂಡಲೇ ಪ್ರಾಧಿಕಾರ ರಚನೆ ಮಾಡುವಂತೆ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಸೂಚಿಸಿದೆ.
ವೈದ್ಯಕೀಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಇಲಾಖೆಯ ಜಂಟಿ ಕಾರ್ಯದರ್ಶಿಗಳ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ 5 ಜನ ಸದಸ್ಯರುಗಳ ಶುಲ್ಕ ನಿಯಂತ್ರಣ… pic.twitter.com/z70IJQZ9RR
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May initiate contempt action if states, UTs non compliant against misleading ads: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned states and union territories of contempt action if they failed to act against misleading advertisements.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan perused a note submitted by senior advocate Shadan Farasat, who is assisting the apex court as an amicus curiae in the matter, and observed a number of states were non-compliant as indicated in the note.
"We make it clear that if we find non-compliance by any of the states and union territories, we may have to initiate proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, against the states concerned," the bench said.
The issue pertaining to misleading advertisements had cropped up before the top court while hearing a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association in 2022 alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.
The top court had highlighted the aspect of misleading advertisements being published or displayed in media contrary to the provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and the rules, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the amicus said as per the affidavits filed by the states and union territories so far, virtually no prosecution under the 1954 Act was taking place.
While Section 3 of the Act deals with prohibition of advertisement of certain drugs for treatment of certain diseases and disorders, Section 4 relates to prohibition of misleading advertisements of drugs.
The bench referred to affidavits filed by some of the states and questioned why they hadn't acted on the basis of complaints received.
Some states, it noted, found it difficult to identify the violaters.
"We will take contempt action now," the bench said, "and we will threadbare examine the compliance made by each states."
The bench said it would consider the compliance made by Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir on February 10.
And if these states wanted to file further affidavits reporting compliance, they were free to do so by February 3, it added.
The bench said compliance by states including Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab would be considered on February 24.
It said compliance regarding other states and union territories would be considered on March 17.
While hearing the matter in July last year, the apex court said the Ministry of Ayush should set up a dashboard to make available to the consumers the details about the complaints filed on misleading advertisements and the progress made on them.
In April last year, the top court asked the Centre and state licensing authorities to "activate" themselves to deal with misleading advertisements.
