Tuition fee structure for MBBS, BDS courses revised... ANDHRA PRADESH

The State government has revised with immediate effect the tuition fee structure for MBBS/BDS courses in unaided minority and non-minority medical and dental professional institutions in the State.

According to government orders issued in this regard on Friday, the tuition fee for MBBS course for ‘A’ category seats in both private, unaided minority and non-minority medical colleges has been fixed at Rs.10,000 per annum and Rs.11,00,000 for ‘B’ category seats.

For ‘C’ category (NRI), it should not exceed five times maximum chargeable fee to ‘B’ category students per annum.

For undergraduate dental courses in private, unaided minority and non-minority dental colleges, the fee has been fixed at Rs.10,000 per annum for ‘A’ category, Rs.4,50,000 for ‘B’ category and not exceeding five times maximum chargeable fee to ‘B’ category students.

The tuition fee is payable annually for four academic years and there will be a five per cent increment in tuition fee per year to offset inflation.

Students who were admitted into the course prior to 2015 will continue to pay every year the same annual fee as had existed at the time of their admissions till they complete the course.

Consensual arrangement

Vijayawada Special Correspondent adds: In pursuance of the Supreme Court judgment a “consensual arrangement” has been arrived at in adopting the admission policy and seat matrix for the quota of competent authority and EAMCET ranking based on management seats, NRI and NRI sponsored seats in unaided non-minority medical, dental colleges in the State.

The Health Medical and Family Welfare Department in an order issued on Friday listed several amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulations of Admission and Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1983 (A.P. Act No.5 of 1983) and the Regulation of Admission into Under Graduate Medical and Dental Professional Courses) Rules, 2007.

The G.O. listed several amendments to Regulation of Admission Rules 4, 5 and 6.

According to the amendments 50 per cent of the seats in Category ‘A’ would be filled through counselling by the committee constituted by the competent authority as per merit from the candidates who qualified in EAMCET held by the State. Similarly the seats for Category ‘B’ and ‘C’ have also been amended. There are similar amendments in Rule 5 and 6 also.



This is with immediate effect for courses in unaided minority, non-minority medical and dental professional institutions

CU does it again: Nursing grad awarded MBBS degree

KOZHIKODE: There are no limits to the surprises that Calicut University can pull off. Its recent 'reforms' in the process of issuing degree certificates have resulted in miracles such as students of BSc Nursing becoming MBBS graduates and BBA undergraduates left holding BCom degrees.

Then there are many instances of names in degree certificates misspelt to the annoyance of students. V V Georgekutty, controller of examinations, admitted to the snafu but said subjects in degree certificates got mixed up due to a glitch in the software supplied by C-DIT.

"In all the cases, the copy of the certificate which was verified by the examination wing had correct details. Errors crept in when the original was printed," he said. He, however, played down the number of such instances to two or three per month.

Sources blamed the certificate fiasco on doing away with the two-stage verification of the original certificate by Pareeksha Bhavan. The second layer of verification after the vice-chancellor signs the certificate is no longer there, said an examination wing official.

The Association of Calicut University Teachers said these instances have put the credibility and the statutory existence of the varsity under a cloud.

"The removal of multi-layer safeguards in the name of speeding up the issuance of certificates has compromised the verification process. We suspect that it could be even exploited to commit serious malpractices in issuing degree certificates. The government should institute a high-level probe into the incident," said Dr. P Sivadasan, secretary, ACT.

Officers warned for receiving Modi in shades, casuals

The Raman Singh government has hauled up two IAS officers for not wearing formal dress while receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his one-day visit to Chhattisgarh on May 9.

Bastar district magistrate Amit Kataria sported Ray-Ban sunglasses and wore two different shirts (bright blue and white and blue pin-stripes) at the time of receiving and seeing off Modi while Dantewada DM K C Devsenapati wore a white shirt. Special secretary, general administration, DD Singh issued a stern warning in separate letters to both on Wednesday .

Retired senior bureaucrats told TOI that there was no specific dress code in the service rules for officers but wearing formals was a convention. They added that it would be impractical to restrain an officer from wearing shades while attending an event in mid-day sun.

The warning sent to the Bastar DM said: “It came to the notice of the government that you did not wear a formal dress and wore sunglasses while receiving the Prime Minister.“

The Chhattisgarh special secretary said the conduct of the two DMs violated the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 which stipulates: “Every member of the service shall at all times maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty and shall do nothing which is unbecoming of a member of the Service.“

Raman Singh said no further action was necessary as the officers had been warned. While ambiguous on dress code, the All India Services (Conduct) Rules require a civil servant to show “courtesy and consideration“ to an MPMLA and “rise from their seats while receiving them in their office“.

“However, as per convention, any officer receiving the Prime Minister, President or Vice-President, at his place of posting or a pub ic function, should be dressed in a formal attire which may be a bandhgala or a western suit worn with a tie,“ said N Gopalaswam who has served as CEC and Union home secretary.

He added that forma dress is also the convention when a bureaucrat calls on his concerned minister for the first time after joining a new posting.

“Wearing formals while receiving dignitaries is also part of our induction train ing, as the trainee officers are required to dress up in bandhgalas or formal suits when the President visits the Academy,“ said a former secretary with the department of personnel.

As for sunglasses, a former bureaucrat said: “Usually, when a DM makes a field visit to a place where labour ers are toiling in the sun without any eye protection, the officer may avoid wearing sunglasses out of concern.“

Plea to conduct admission counselling to Siddha courses

Students of Government Siddha Medical College here have appealed to the Commissioner of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy to conduct the counselling for admission to the Siddha medical colleges without delay. In a memorandum submitted to the Commissioner of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy, the students of Government Siddha Medical College have said good number of students, who have scored high marks in the Plus Two examinations, were keen on joining Government Siddha Medical Colleges with the Siddha formulations without side-effects becoming so popular among people.

While counselling for MBBS, engineering, veterinary and agriculture courses are conducted within a couple of weeks from the date of declaration of results, counselling for Siddha courses is conducted only after four months, which triggers a sense of fear among the aspirants. Some of them, who actually wanted to become Siddha doctors, have unwillingly joined other courses due to fear of losing the chance of joining other institutions.

“Though the Siddha students have submitted similar petitions in the past, no action has been taken to conduct the counselling immediately after completing the admission for MBBS or BDS courses. Hence, considering the welfare of the students and Indian medicine system, the officials should take steps for conducting the counselling without any delay,” the petitioners said.

‘Sanctioning medical leave is the prerogative of administrative authorities’

The issue of sanctioning or rejecting leave, including those availed on medical grounds, is completely within the domain of administrative authorities concerned and, therefore, courts cannot interfere in such matters, the Madras High Court Bench here has said.

Justice S. Vaidyanthan made the observation while dismissing a writ petition filed by a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) Checking Inspector whose application for extension of medical leave was rejected despite having sufficient number of leave days to his credit.

“I am of the opinion that this court cannot sit over the decision of an administrative authority in matters relating to approval of leave or rejection of leave. It is for the management to arrive at a decision in this regard taking into account the administrative contingencies,” the judge said.

He went on to state: “The decision being within the domain of the respondents, the court would not ordinarily substitute its own opinion. It is incumbent on the petitioner to convince the authority concerned while applying leave on health ground or at the time of joining duty.”

Further, holding that the petitioner was not entitled to file a writ petition challenging the refusal of his superior to sanction medical leave, the judge said that the Checking Inspector could either attempt to convince the officer once again or raise an industrial dispute through the employee’s union.

In his affidavit, the petitioner, serving at the Sattur branch of TNSTC in Virudhunagar district, had said that he initially applied for 15 days of medical leave on August 4 last year along with a medical certificate issued by the Chief Civil Surgeon in the Srivilliputtur Municipality.

Subsequently, on August 19, he forwarded one more application seeking extension of leave. However, the Branch Manager rejected both applications and directed him to meet the General Manager of the region for not reporting to duty from August 4 to September 9 and hence the present writ petition.

HC: settle terminal benefits to teacher

The Madras High Court Bench here has directed School Education Department and the Accountant General to take immediate steps to settle terminal benefits of a school teacher who had become medically invalid to hold the post after an open skull surgery.

Disposing of a writ petition filed by the teacher’s husband who claimed that she was in a vegetative state, Justice S. Vaidyanathan said: “The Government Advocate… has agreed that the wife of the petitioner is one foot to the graveyard and that the benefits if any should be settled to her.” He directed the School Education Department to forward necessary proposal for releasing the terminal benefits to the Accountant General who, in turn, was ordered to pass appropriate orders and release the money within 10 days from the date of receipt of the proposal.

In his affidavit, the writ petitioner I. Yesudhas said that his wife T. Alphonse was serving as a teacher in a Government Higher Secondary School at Nattalam in Vilavancode taluk of Kanyakumari district when she suffered from hypertension and underwent carniectomy, a neurosurgical procedure.

She also underwent a tracheal surgery and remained bedridden since then. The doctors declared her medically invalid for any kind of government service and hence an application was made to allow her to retire from service on account of invalidation owing to health disorder.

Claiming that the officials concerned did not pass any order on the application, the petitioner had approached the court seeking a direction to the officials to grant all service benefits, including monthly pension, along with interest at the rate of 24 per cent per annum.

Mahamaham works may gain pace

With the verdict in the Jayalalithaa’s appeal against conviction in the disproportionate assets case behind, the stage is set for fast-tracking the infrastructure development and renovation works related to the conduct of the Mahamaham festival in February next.

Works estimated to cost Rs. 350 crore are to be undertaken in the run up to the grand event that falls once in 12 years. So far, several works costing Rs.180 crore are under various stages of completion to cater to the demands of the estimated 75 lakh pilgrims expected to converge this time in Kumbakonam.

A perceptible sluggishness crept in after the unseating of Ms. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister about seven months ago. Though senior State officials did come on inspection tours to Kumbakonam to monitor the progress of works, the pep was palpably missing.

All that has now changed with the Thanjavur district administration shifting gears to complete all infrastructure and development works, renovation of important shrines and related administrative toning up well ahead of the Mahamaham festival.

Among the important works to be carried out by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department in Kumbakonam and its neighbourhood are renovation of 12 Saiva shrines connected to the main Teerthavari ritual at the Mahamaham tank at a cost of Rs. 4.31 crore, renovation of five major Vainava shrines at a cost of Rs. 2.65 crore, renovation of 52 temples around Kumbakonam at a cost of Rs. 3.76 crore, renovation of Mahamaham tank at Rs. 75 lakh, Potramarai tank at Rs. 21.30 lakh, Varaha Perumal tank at Rs. 60 lakh, repairing of Adhi Kumbeswarar temple chariots at Rs. 60 lakh, and Sarangapani temple car at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh.

The Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department through the Kumbakonam Municipality has drawn up plans to undertake Rs.45.63-crore worth works, including construction of a new bridge across the River Cauvery at Melacauvery costing Rs. 8 crore, while the Tangedco has submitted plans for Rs. 78.76 crore worth works and the Highways Department has worked out proposals for Rs. 51.35-crore worth works.