MBBS admission with Partial Fee payment, no enrolment: University agrees to out of court settlement, SC adjourns plea

New Delhi: During the proceedings of a plea concerning the question if partial payment of fees without submission of enrolment forms, undertakings and affidavits confirms medical admission, the Navi Mumbai-based DY Patil University agreed for an out-of-court settlement and assured giving the documents back to the petitioner candidate.

With such an assurance from the counsel for the University, the top court bench comprising of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna on Monday considered the prayer of the institute for withdrawing the plea after giving back the documents and adjourned the matter. The issue would be heard next on August 18, 2022.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the question of law if provisional admission letter downloaded from the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) website confirms MBBS admission came for consideration before the Supreme Court after an MBBS aspirant had filed a plea in this regard.

The plea by the MBBS aspirant concerned the question if making partial fee payment would confirm admission at a medical college despite the fact that enrollment forms had not been submitted, scrutiny of the original documents and various other undertakings and swearing of affidavits had not been done.

After appearing in NEET UG Counselling conducted by MCC, the concerned candidate got a deemed/paid quota seat in DY Patil Deemed to be University, Navi Mumbai.

Also Read: Does Partial fee Payment without submission of enrollment form confirm MBBS Admission? SC to decide

Her grievance is that even though she never submitted enrollment form or the other mandatory documents, affidavits and undertakings, she was shown to be a joined candidate only on the basis of her paying the partial fee. She claimed that she was shown as a joined candidate even though she had informed the college about her inability of bearing the financial expenditure.

Submitting that the college had refused releasing her original documents, the petitioner student also contended that even if it gets assumed that she had deposited a huge amount of Rs 25 lakhs and secured admission with the provisional allotment letter, the maximum amount that can be forfeited in the form of securoty deposit is Rs 2 lakhs.

At this outset, the plea averred, "Thus, this is a clear case of unjust enrichment by an educational institution."

As per the latest media report by Live Law, the petitioner informed the court that it would not be possible for her to bear the financial expenditure. It was submitted by the petitioner that the university had been threatening that in case the petitioner fails to deposit the balance fees she would not get to appear in NEET-UG in the future.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the MCC, ASG, Vikramjit Banerjee submitted before the court that the money had been refunded to the petitioner.

Regarding the documents, the counsel for the University agreed for an out of court settlement and assured that the documents would be handed over to the candidate.

When he urged the court to ensure that the petition gets withdrawn after addressing the grievances of the petitioner, the bench adjourned the matter till August 18, 2022.

Also Read: SC refuses to stay NEET PG Counselling 2022