Tamil Nadu has directed its medical colleges to stop charging MBBS fees for the internship year, becoming one of the first states to put a national rule into effect on the ground. On 23 June 2026, the Tamil Nadu Selection Committee ordered all self-financing medical and dental colleges and state private universities to charge only for the four-and-a-half-year academic course, not the full five or five-and-a-half years that some had been billing.
The order carries out a National Medical Commission (NMC) directive that applies across India. NMC sent its notice to every state and union territory for action, and states are now passing it down to their colleges. At the same time, the rule has run into its first court challenge, in Kerala.
What the national rule says
An MBBS programme runs for five and a half years: 4½ years (54 months) of classroom and clinical teaching, followed by one year of compulsory rotating medical internship (CRMI). Some colleges were billing students for the full 5 or 5½ years, including the internship year, which is service rather than teaching.
In a public notice dated 7 April 2026 (File No. CDN-13011/1/2026), NMC directed that “the fee for the MBBS course shall be charged only for prescribed academic duration of 4½ years (four and a half years)”. The notice cites the NMC Act 2019 and Supreme Court rulings that fees must be reasonable and tied to teaching actually delivered. It applies to every medical college, institution and university under NMC, government and private alike.
Why it matters for you
The effect is largest at private, deemed and self-financing colleges, where annual fees run high. If a college was charging for five or five-and-a-half years, the internship year should no longer carry a tuition charge, which can mean a full year of fees off the total. During that internship you are also entitled to a monthly stipend under the CRMI rules, not a fee demand from the college.
Where it stands: a court challenge in Kerala
The refund side of the rule is being contested. After the April notice, NMC issued a 6 June 2026 communication asking Kerala’s Director of Medical Education to have colleges refund the excess fees they had already collected. Four self-financing colleges in Kerala (Jubilee Mission, Amala, Pushpagiri and Kolenchery) challenged it, citing a heavy financial burden, and the Kerala High Court, through Justice P V Kunhikrishnan, stayed that refund directive for three months for the colleges that approached it. It is an interim order, not a final ruling, and it covers refunds of fees already collected rather than the underlying direction to charge only for the 4½-year course going forward. Tamil Nadu’s order, by contrast, is about what colleges may charge from here on.
What to check during counselling
- When you compare private or deemed college fees, confirm the quoted figure covers the 4½-year academic course, not five or five-and-a-half years.
- Ask whether any charge is being levied for the internship year. Under the rule, it should not be.
- Keep the fee notification from your state’s fee-fixation committee handy; colleges cannot collect more than the fixed amount.
- Weigh fees alongside cutoffs when you build your list, using our cutoff analyser and counselling guides.