The AP Private Medical and Dental Colleges Managements Association on Friday announced that it was pulling out from the current negotiations with the government regarding the fee structure and the percentage of seats to be filled by the EAMCET convenor (free seats).

The Association was disappointed over the government's refusal of its demand for a higher fee structure for the free seats and raising the managements' quota of seats to 75 % from the present 15 %.

After the breakdown of talks, Association president Puvvada Ajay Kumar said that the private colleges would be compelled to go ahead with the admission process if the deadlock continued.

"The fee sought by us is very less when compared to other states. The managements have no option in the light of the government's dithering on the fee and seat matrix structure," he said.

The state government had set up a 10-member committee comprising five from the medical and health department and five from the private medical colleges association to finalise the fee structure and the management quota in the light of the Supreme Court verdict dated October 31, 2002.

The fee structure had been resolved between the government and the private managements at Rs 1.75 lakh for MBBS seats per annum averaging on 500 students in five categories and Rs 1.10 lakh for BDS seats on 400 students in four categories.

But on Friday, the government changed its stand and offered only Rs 1.20 lakh for the medical seats and Rs 90,000 for the dental seats. Protesting against the government's sudden change of stand, the association warned the government that it would consider the option of conducting its own admission process for the seats in private colleges as per the Supreme Court verdict.

The court had directed that not less than 75 % of seats must be at the discretion of the management and the fee structure must be revised upwards. Though the government had offered 50 % of the seats to the management, 25 % of it had been reserved for the SC, ST and OBC candidates from the EAMCET list. That means, in effect, the management gets only 25 % at its discretion.