HC Rejects plea accusing Private medical colleges of charging exorbitant fees against NMC rules
Chennai: Accusing the petitioner of making 'vague allegations', the Madras High Court recently denied entertaining a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought directions for strictly implementing the medical fees fixed by Government for the 50 percent seats in the Private medical colleges and Deemed Universities.
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.
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.
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