Karnataka - Bangalore   

Repayment of fees: colleges to move Supreme Court

BANGALORE: Managements of private professional colleges in Karnataka will now have to shell out several crores of rupees if they comply with last Monday’s judgment of the Karnataka High Court directing them to repay the fees they had collected in excess of the fee prescribed by the fee committee for undergraduate and postgraduate medical, dental and engineering courses during 2004-05.

In a landmark judgment, a Division Bench comprising Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice N. Ananda allowed the petitions by students seeking refund of fees collected from them by the managements of private medical, engineering and dental colleges.

The Bench said that the managements of private medical, engineering and dental colleges could only collect the fees prescribed by the erstwhile fee committee. The first fee committee was headed by retired Justice A.B. Murgod, while the second was headed by retired Justice Rangavittalachar. Both the committees fixed fees for professional courses and the colleges were expected to collect the prescribed fees.

In 2004, the State and the managements of private medical, engineering and dental colleges entered into a consensual agreement for 2004-05 under which the State permitted the managements to charge more fees than specified by the fee committee for 50 per cent of students admitted to the colleges under the management quota.

Thus, while students admitted under the government quota paid lesser fee, those under the management quota had to pay more. This anomaly was challenged by the students before the Karnataka High Court.

On its part, the State wanted to continue with the consensual agreement for at least two more years. The managements too said they had taken higher fees only after they entered into an agreement with the Government.

With the court allowing the petitions by the students, the managements have no option now but to repay lakhs of rupees they collected in excess from each student. Since any such repayment would be a financial burden on them, the managements have decided to file a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court against the High Court order.

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