Madras High Court unmoved by plea on fees

Justice V. Ramasubramanian dismissed a batch of petitions from M. Aamira Fathima and 189 other MBBS and BDS second-year students, challenging the fee structure of Rs 5.54 lakh for MBBS and Rs 3.50 lakh for BDS courses.

When the petitioners joined their courses in 2013-14, the university was run by the founder’s family, but due to maladministration and mismanagement, government took control of the university. When the academic year 2014-15 commenced and students were notified to pay the fee, some students filed the present petitions, contending that once government takes over the university and the college, the institution become a government college.

Hence, the government cannot charge fee in excess of the amount collected in government colleges. Advocate general A.L. Somayaji, assisted by advocate R. Sureshkumar, contended that the mismanagement of the university and its constituent colleges for more than two decades had resulted in all its courses being run on deficit. So, the very continuance of courses will be in jeopardy if even the present fee structure was set at naught.

The judge agreed to this and said the petitioner did not come within the zone of consideration in the single window counselling to secure admission in government colleges or government quota in self-financing colleges.

Due to the sudden turn of events and due to the fortuitous circumstances of government taking over the university, the judge said students who are more meritorious than the petitioners and who were allotted to the self-financing colleges are now paying '2.80 lakh in those colleges. “The petitioners would be paying a lesser fee than their more meritorious counterparts,” the judge added.