Mumbai, Sept 10: Maharashtra government today appointed a ministerial committee to hold talks with private and unaided educational institutions to bring down the fees in medical and engineering colleges, Fees charged in private medical colleges were "exorbitant", Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said after a cabinet meeting, adding "a ministerial committee will hold talks with the management of private colleges in an attempt to bring down the fees".

The committee comprises of Labour Minister Satish Chaturvedi, irrigation minister Dr Padamsinh Patil and Industries Minister Patangrao Kadam. Incidentally, all the three ministers run medical and engineering colleges in the state. After the preliminary talks by the ministerial committee, Shinde said he along with Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal would deliberate with those running the educational institutions on Monday.

The admission process will continue till any decision is arrived, he clarified.

The government was contemplating to extend financial assistance to OBC and economically backward class students, he said but added that "it is difficult in view of the high fee structure". Recently, hundreds of students protested the high fee structure of Rs 3.80 lakh per annum in private medical colleges and stopped the admission procedure.

Bureau Report