The legislative assembly on Thursday evening passed a bill to amend the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Education Institutions (Regulation of Admission Fees) Act, which will enable the government to regulate fees of all colleges and restrict private institutions from conducting common entrance tests .
'This means, all medical and dental colleges, including self-financed ones, will have to follow NEET rules — 85% seats under merit and 15% under management quota — for admissions,' minister of state for higher and technical education Ravindra Waikar told.
The bill will now be tabled in the legislative council.
The draft had been pending for nearly nine years as most ministers in earlier governments were on boards of medical and engineering institutions, sources said. 'A panel will be set up under a retired high court judge, with a chartered accountant and a former vice-chancellor, among others, on it,' Waikar added.
As the Act will bring all engineering, medical and agriculture colleges and universities under its ambit, private institutions will have to structure their fees according to the government's rules. This has been a long-pending demand of students and parents, as the number of seats in government colleges are few .
Of the MBBS 6,695 seats in the state, only 2,810 are in government colleges, while the remaining are in private colleges and central government institutions. It should be noted that there are 10 medical and about 6 deemed dental universities controlled by Congress and NCP leaders: Pravara Medical College (Ahmednagar) is controlled by opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, MGM Medical College (Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai) by NCP leader Kamal Kishore Kadam, Bharti Vidyapeeth (Sangli and Pune) by Congress leader Patangrao Kadam, Dr DY Patil Medical and Dental College and Datta Meghe Medical and Dental College in Wardha.