Your child cleared NEET, a private medical institution in Meghalaya has offered a seat, and the admission office is asking for a figure that covers several years at once plus something described as a development or donation payment. Since 31 October 2025 there is a State Act that speaks to exactly those two demands, and it answers both in your favour.
Section 4(1) requires the Government to constitute, by Gazette notification, a Fee Regulatory Committee for fixation of fees chargeable from students admitted to MBBS in private medical institutions including institutes under private universities.
Section 4(2) fixes who sits on it, and the composition is the reason the body has some independence:
| Member | Role |
|---|---|
| A retired judge of the High Court of Meghalaya | Chairperson |
| Director of Health Services, Medical Education and Research | Member |
| A representative of the Meghalaya Medical Council | Member |
| A representative from Higher and Technical Education | Member |
| A Chartered Accountant of repute, nominated by the Chairperson | Member |
| The Joint Secretary, Finance Department | Member |
| A representative from the Law Department | Member |
| The Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department | Member Secretary |
Section 5(4) then bars anyone associated with any private medical institution from being a member. Section 5(5) sets a two year term for nominated members. Section 5(7) allows removal for conduct unbecoming of a member, but only after an opportunity of being heard.
Section 5(1)(a) is the provision with a date in it. The Committee may require institutions to place before it the proposed fee structure with all relevant documents and books of accounts for scrutiny well in advance of the academic year, and not later than 31st December of the previous academic year.
Section 5(2) gives it teeth. For the purpose of any inquiry, it has all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in respect of summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath, discovery and production of documents, reception of evidence on affidavits, and issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses.
Section 9(1) lists what the Committee must weigh when determining fees: the location of the institution, the cost of land and building, available infrastructure and equipment, expenditure on faculty, administration and maintenance, the reasonable profit required for the growth and development of the institution, and any other relevant factor. Section 9(2) requires the institution to be given a reasonable opportunity to put its views in writing first.
Section 9(3) covers the gap period: until the Fee Regulatory Committee is in place, the State Government may in public interest prescribe a provisional fee structure through some other committee, provided the fee is fixed under sections 9(1) and 9(2) within ninety days.
Section 8(1) sets the structure plainly. A private medical institution including an institute under a private university may reserve up to fifty percent of the total sanctioned intake as Management Quota seats, and that is exclusive of fifteen percent of the sanctioned intake which may be separately earmarked for the NRI Quota, with statutory reservations as determined by the State Government.
Section 7 governs who is eligible. Eligibility criteria are as determined and notified by the National Medical Commission and the National Commission for Indian System from time to time. Section 7(2) requires admission to be made on the basis of the inter-se merit of candidates determined in accordance with NEET. Section 7(3) applies the State reservation and domicile policy to Government quota seats.
Section 8(2) ties reservation to the State's existing policy notified vide No. PER.222/71/138 dated 12 January 1972.
Section 3(4) puts counselling and seat allocation with the Meghalaya State Counselling Authority, whose composition section 6(2) fixes with the Director of Health Services, Medical Education and Research as Chairperson and the Additional Director of Health Services as Member Secretary.
Merit still governs the management quota. Section 8(1) permits a college to set aside up to half its seats as management quota, but section 7(2) requires admission to be on inter-se NEET merit, and the capitation fee definition catches anything charged beyond regular tuition and official fee. A management seat is a category of seat, not a licence to sell one.
Section 10 is the complaint machinery, and it has a deadline.
Note what is not in the Act as published: there is no fine or imprisonment provision attached to overcharging. The sanction is regulatory rather than penal, which is why the section 10 complaint and the section 3(6) recommendation are the levers that matter.
The single most useful document is the approved fee structure itself, because it is what the college is bound by.
1. A copy of the fee structure approved for the academic year ......... for ......... Private Medical Institution under section 5(3) of the Meghalaya Private Medical Institution Including Institutes Under Private University Act, 2025, and the date of that approval. 2. A copy of the Gazette notification constituting the Fee Regulatory Committee under section 4(1), and the names of its present members. 3. Whether the said institution submitted its proposed fee structure with books of accounts by 31st December as required by section 5(1)(a); if not, the action taken. 4. The name and designation of the Nodal Officer appointed under section 10(1), and the number of complaints received and disposed of in the last one year. 5. A copy of the seat matrix for the said institution showing Government quota, Management Quota and NRI Quota seats.
Address it to the Public Information Officer of the Health and Family Welfare Department, pay the fee shown in the Meghalaya RTI fee schedule, and track the thirty day clock under section 7 of the RTI Act. The AI RTI Drafter will format it, the RTI Timeline Calculator runs the deadline, and the First Appeal Builder handles a non-reply. The RTI Playbook covers the escalation route.
Do this before paying, not after. An approved fee structure in your hand converts a negotiation into a comparison.
Section 5(3) says no Private Medical institution shall collect a fee amounting to more than one year's fee from a candidate. Ask for the approved fee structure under which the demand is being made, in writing, and put the section to them.
Not for you. Section 5(3) provides that the fee determined shall be applicable to a candidate admitted to an institution in that academic year and shall not be revised till completion of his course in that college. The approved structure separately binds institutions for three years, after which the institution may apply for a revision that would affect later batches.
The Act defines Capitation Fee as fee charged beyond the regular tuition and official fee. Section 5(1)(b) requires the Fee Regulatory Committee to check that a proposed fee is justified and does not amount to profiteering or the charging of a capitation fee, so anything outside the approved structure is the thing the Act is aimed at.
Up to fifty percent of the total sanctioned intake under section 8(1), exclusive of a further fifteen percent that may be separately earmarked for NRI quota, with statutory reservations as determined by the State Government.
A Nodal Officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary in the Health and Family Welfare Department, appointed under section 10(1). Section 10(4) requires the enquiry to follow a summary procedure and to be completed within sixty days. Under section 10(5) that officer has civil court powers to obtain and scrutinise the college's records.
Under section 3(6), where the State Government determines that an institution has violated the Act, it may recommend to the appropriate State or Central Government authority the withdrawal of the essentiality certificate, affiliation, permission or recognition. The Act as published carries no separate fine or imprisonment for overcharging.
Reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak. This page is general legal information, not legal advice. Statutory text quoted from Meghalaya Act No. 18 of 2025 as published in the Gazette of Meghalaya and available on India Code. Whether the Fee Regulatory Committee has been constituted by notification, and the fee structure approved for any given institution or year, were not verified here, so ask the Department for the current approved structure.