COLLEGES HAVE NO RIGHT TO DEMAND A FULL COURSE FEE FROM A STUDENT WHO HAD WITHDRAWN HIS APPLICATION - KARNATAKA HC

The Karnataka High Court recently directed a medical college to not demand the full 3-year-course fee from a student who had withdrawn his admission from the post-graduate program. The Court further said that the college had no legal right to ask for full course fees. 

The division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and MGS Kamal ordered Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital not to insist the petitioner the total 3-year-course fees of ₹25,32,000 and directed them to return his documents.

After the MBBS course, the petitioner appeared for the Post Graduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test in 2018. He got a seat in the respondent college, for which the petitioner paid ₹7,74,500 and all his original documents. After depositing the amount, he was admitted to Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, in MS Orthopedics. He, therefore, gave up his seat in the respondent's college and requested to return all the submitted documents. And the petitioner surrendered his seat before the commencement of the course. After he surrendered his seat, the respondent asked him to deposit ₹25,32,000, the fee for the entire three-year program, without which they would not return his original documents.

Advocate Chandrakanth R Gourlay, appearing on behalf of the college, argued that if the original documents were returned, the college would not be able to recover the full course fee from the petitioner. He had withdrawn from the course and deprived the college of admitting another person. 

The Court did not accept the arguments made by the college by stating that the petitioner withdrew from the course before the last date of counseling. Moreover, as per findings by the Top Court in the Islamic Academy of Education and Another, institutions do not have the legal right to demand full course fees from students who leave the program. 

On September 24, 2019, the Court disposed of the petitioner and directed the institution to return his original documents. 

Author: Papiha Ghoshal