Bangalore: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly today (July 30, 2004) passed a landmark bill fixing the Government quota in private professional colleges at 75 per cent of the seats and the management share at 25 per cent as a one-time step for the academic year 2004-2005.

Passed amidst noisy scenes and a dharna by the Opposition BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) which protested against the "unaffordable" fee structure, the bill also provides for charging fees as fixed by the Justice Murgod Committee formed to determine the fees.

In its recent interim order, the Supreme Court had fixed the 50:50 seat sharing ratio and as the impasse prevailed with Government insisting on 75:25 formula and managements dead set on 50:50 sharing basis, the Government came out with the bill.

The bill, strongly protested by BJP which dubbed it as "a black legislation" for its "exorbitant fees", came a day ahead of the July 31 deadline set by the Medical Council of India to fill up the medical seats.

The Common Entrance Test Cell had commenced counselling on the basis of 75:25 quota but it was suspended following the apex court order on July 15.

Winding up the discussion, marked by noisy scenes, Minister for Higher Education D Manjunath dismissed the BJP charge that the Government had colluded with managements and asserted that it would stand the scrutiny of law though the Supreme Court had fixed the 75:25 ratio.

Intervening, Chief Minister N Dharam Singh asserted that the Government had taken a "bold step" and not yielded to anyone.