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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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Colleges asked to refund excess fee

Special Correspondent

High Court asks three private medical colleges to stick to prescribed fees

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed three unaided private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu not to collect fees in excess of the one fixed by the Permanent Committee. They should either refund the excess amount or adjust it against next year’s fee.

The Permanent Committee had fixed Rs. 3 lakh as fee for the Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute at Kancheepuram, Rs. 2.25 lakh for the Coimbatore-based PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and Rs. 2.3 lakh for the Sri Mookambigai Institute of Medical Sciences, Kanyakumari.

The First Bench consisting of Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice P. Jyothimani passed the order on a batch of petitions, filed by the respective colleges, parents associations and the Student Federation of India. The Government sought to vacate the stay on the Permanent Committee’s order.

“Those three institutions, which are the only unaided private medical institutions in the State, have collected tuition fees more than the amount fixed by the committee. It is not permissible in law, inasmuch as the Supreme Court has made it very clear that the fees fixed by the Committee shall be valid for a period of three years unless the same is modified by the Committee on a revision. We are of the view that the institutions cannot be permitted to charge the tuition fee more than what has been fixed by the Committee by virtue of an interim stay granted by this court.”

A single judge had stayed the Committee’s order on fee structure and permitted the colleges to collect Rs. 4 lakh, subject to the institutions agreeing to refund or adjust the excess amount in the event of the Committee fixing the annual fees at a lower rate.

On Thursday, the Judges said, “By virtue of the judgments of the Supreme Court, the orders of the Permanent Committee for fixation of fees are legally enforceable for a period of three years from the date the fees is fixed. However, it is open to the institutions to apply to the Committee for revision with appropriate materials.”

Noting that the institutions could not be permitted to charge tuition fees more than what had been fixed by the Committee by virtue of an interim order of stay granted by the High Court, the Bench asked the colleges to adjust the balance excess amount against the fees for subsequent years.

Undertaking

It also asked students to give an undertaking that if the Permanent Committee increased the tuition fees, they would be bound by the order. The Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, which said it had collected tuition fees of Rs. 4 lakh each from three students, would refund the balance amount. The PSG Institute, which received Rs. 4 lakh each from nearly 50 students, was asked to adjust the fee against the subsequent year’s fees. The Bench posted the matter to September 17 for final disposal.

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