The decision of the Fee Committee shall abide by the result of the petition: Bench
Chennai: Coming to the rescue of the candidates who have been provisionally selected for admission to PG medical courses and undergone counselling but could not join as they could not raise the fee of Rs 40 lakh to 50 lakh fixed by the Deemed Universities in Puducherry, the Madras high court directed the DUs to admit them by collecting just Rs 10 lakh towards annual fee for first year as an interim measure.
Directing the Union government and UGC to constitute a Committee to fix fees for DUs in Puducherry, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M.Sundar made it clear that in the event of the fees to be determined by the Fee Committee was higher than what they paid, they shall pay the differential amount.
Those students who have already taken admission by depositing the full fees will, if necessary, be entitled to refund/adjustment of the difference between the fees that might be determined by the Committee and the amount paid by them, the bench added.
The bench said, "Such admission shall be effected within 5 pm on June 19 and the students will be allowed to provisionally attend their classes from June 20. The admission of students pursuant to this interim order shall abide by the result of the petition".
Directing the Union and Puducherry governments and the DUs to file their counter affidavits within two weeks, the bench posted to July 14, further hearing of the PIL filed by advocate V.B.R. Menon, which sought a direction to the authorities to constitute the fee fixation committee for self financing DUs.
"Considering that the future of the students who are admitted pursuant to this interim order remains uncertain, there is an immense urgency and we expect that the UGC and the Ministry of Human Resource Development shall forthwith constitute a Committee to regulate the fees chargeable by the self financing DUs, after giving all stakeholders including the Universities adequate opportunity of representation. The decision of the Fee Committee shall abide by the result of the petition", the bench added.
Noting that the self financing private medical colleges charges fee of Rs 5.50 lakh per annum from the students of state quota and Rs 14 lakh under the management quota, the bench said, "We find it difficult to accept that the fee of Rs 40 to 50 lakh per annum is reasonable".
The bench also observed that by reason of the exorbitant fees notified by the deemed to be universities, there were still seats going vacant. The students who had competed and succeeded in clearing the admission tests and had undergone counselling were being deprived of an opportunity to pursue their higher studies by reason of prohibitive fees, which was prima facie unsustainable in law.
Lt Gov praises order on pondy varsities medicos
Lt Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi on Friday welcomed the Madras High Court order that directed the deemed universities in Puducherry to admit government-sponsored students after collectingl0 lakh as interim fees. "It is a remarkable judgment that would resolve the agony that the students of Puducherry were undergoing. It is also the victory of the 'Team Raj Nivas", said the Lt Governor.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sunder passed the interim order while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) asking the colleges to start admitting students and collect a provisional fee of Rs 10 lakh for clinical courses should they attend classes from June 20. The order had proposed that a committee is set up to oversee fee-related matters.
The Secretary to the Lt Governor, G.Theva Neethi Dhas had filed a counter petition in the Madras High Court on Centac admission issue where the Chief Minister had alleged that the Mr Dhas had moved to the court without the knowledge of the government
Explaining this, the Lt Governor said, "We always wanted the government to interfere. Then there occurred a lot confusion and our views were different from that of the state government. Mr Dhas moved the court as per my direction to protect the interest of the students". Continuing her allegations against Centac, the Lt Governor said that a new committee should be formed instead of the present Centac Committee which created a lot of issues and chaos.
