Making a statement on a calling attention notice given by leader of opposition Madhukar Pichad on the steep hike in fees in BMC-run medical colleges, Aher said the corporation had hiked the fees as it had no other means of meeting additional expenditure. ``At the moment, it is a subjudice matter since the fee hike has been challenged in the High Court,'' Aher said.

The BMC was charging Rs 8,870 per year for medical and Rs 5,050 for dental courses against Rs 6,000 and Rs 4,000 charged by the government medical colleges. However, an official resolution dated January 12, 1999 hiked up the fees to Rs 16,100 and Rs 12,100 for medical and dental courses respectively.

This decision, said Aher, had not been takenovernight. In the prospectus for 1995-96 and 1996-97, the corporation had specifically indicated that it proposed to increase the fees. The last time the BMC hiked fees was in 1992.Virtually justifying the fee hike, Aher said since the BMC was not receiving any financial assistance either from the centre or the state government, it had to generate its own resources for administration of medical colleges.

``One of the reasons for increasing the fees is the steep hike in the cost of medical and dental education. In 1948-49, the corporation was receiving Rs 3.45 lakh, while the expenditure stood at Rs 6.02 lakh. In 1996-97, it is receiving 3.16 crore against an expenditure of Rs 22.82 crore on medical education,'' Aher added.

Aher also informed the house that his government has proposed abolition of payment seats in private medical colleges. ``We have proposed that the existing quota for Non-Resident Indians should be suitably increased so that apart from the additional fees paid by NRI, private medicalcolleges could meet the expenses for payment seats,'' he said.