Nine of eleven dental colleges give approval to uniform fee

FARIDKOT: Nine out of 11 dental colleges under Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) have given their consent to charge uniform fee. Giving further relief to students, the nine dental colleges (see box) will refund the excess fee charged from the students after the first counselling.

In a meeting chaired by BFUHS vice-chancellor (V-C) Dr Raj Bahadur, before the second counselling for master of dental surgery (MDS) seats, principals of the nine dental colleges approved a common fee structure that was proposed by the V-C. Christian Dental College, Ludhiana, and Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Amritsar, however, persisted with the previous fee structure.

To bring parity in the fee structure, the V-C had earlier conducted a meeting with principals after the first counselling, but the colleges could not reach a consensus. “With efforts of the V-C, the meeting held on Wednesday remained fruitful in terms of fee structure, which varies from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh, depending on the popularity of a subject. Other than Ludhiana and Amritsar colleges, the nine colleges slashed fee so there is parity and no exploitation of students in terms of charging of tuition fee,” said a senior official of the varsity.

SECOND ROUND CONDUCTED

Meanwhile, the varsity conducted the second round of counselling for MDS seats at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College on Wednesday. The counselling for MD and MS seats was held on Tuesday.

The university had invited online applications from candidates who are eligible with the reduced cut-off percentile for NEET-PG 2017 by May 29. The varsity received 100 fresh applications for the second round, including 74 applications for MD and MS seats and 21 for MDS and five for ultrasonography.

For the MDS, there are 94 seats, including 35 in government colleges, 55 management seats and four all-India quota seats.

In a relief to the Punjab government and BFUHS, the Supreme Court had set aside the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court directing the university to recast the merit list for admission to postgraduate medical courses. The state government was directed to proceed with the counselling process.

The BFUHS has already conducted the first counselling from April 13 to 15.

The notification for the examination was out in October 2016 and exam held in January 2017. The second counselling was held back after rural medical officers moved the high court against the varsity and the state government.