HC Rejects plea accusing Private medical colleges of charging exorbitant fees against NMC rules

The court refused considering the plea after taking note of the fact that the plea had not impleaded any of the medical colleges, which were accused of violating the norms, or any students aggrieved by it.

"Perusal of the Writ Petition does not show any information about the colleges indulging in such practices or the students subjected to such additional amount as fees", observed the HC bench comprising of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy.

In the plea, the petitioner had brought allegations against the private medical colleges of charging exorbitant fees of Rs 7.5-8 lakhs when the National Medical Commission (NMC) had already fixed the fees for the Government Quota seats at Rs 13,500.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC, the apex medical education regulatory body had clarified recently that the fees of 50 per cent seats in the private medical colleges would be at par with government medical colleges of that particular State/UT.

"After extensive consultations, it has been decided that the fee of the 50 per cent seats in the private medical colleges and deemed universities should be at par with the fee in the government medical colleges of that particular State and UT. The benefit of this fee structure would be first made available to those candidates who have availed government quota seats, but are limited to the extent of 50 per cent of the total sanctioned strength of the respective medical college/deemed university," NMC had mentioned in the notification.

In the PIL, the petitioner alleged that several private medical colleges were charging more fees than what had been fixed by NMC for the Government quota seats.

Also Read: Private Medical Colleges upset with NMC fee order

When the court inquired about the source of such information, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that he had made inquiries with a few private medical colleges in the State and it revealed that the NMC rules for fixing of medical colleges fees were often violated by such private institutes, adds Live Law.

However, taking note of the fact that none of the colleges or students had been made a party in the case, the bench opined that since the last date for depositing fees is yet to expire, the PIL could have been filed later. In fact, the students who were aggrieved by such alleged practices of the private medical colleges could have been made a party in the PIL, observed the court.

At this outset, the bench chided the petitioner for making 'vague allegations' and noted that there were several instances of misusing public interest litigations. Besides, the bench also referred to the Supreme Court judgment, where the top court had deprecated such practices of advocates filing PILs.

Finally, refusing to entertain the plea, the High Court bench imposed costs of Rs 5,000 on the petitioner, who has been instructed to pay the amount to the State Legal Services Authority within 15 days.

The bench further directed the Registrar General of Madras High Court for ensuring that the order has been complied with and in the case of non-compliance, the petitioner has been warned of prosecution.