MBBS Aspirant Moves Bombay HC Over alleged overcharging by medical college

Maharashtra- Recently, an MBBS aspirant filed a petition in the Bombay High Court alleging that a medical college in Maharashtra has denied him admission to the MBBS course after he refused to pay the exorbitant fees demanded by the institute. His petition will probably be heard by the court this week.

The medical aspirant was allotted a seat in the institutional quota (IQ) at Terna Medical College, Navi Mumbai, in the 1st vacancy round of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG) counselling 2024. With this, he has claimed that he was asked to pay more money while taking admission and eventually, he was denied admission. However, he went to the college after paying the prescribed fee for IQ seats.

Later, he raised the matter with the Common Entrance Test Cell (Maharashtra CET Cell) as well as the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA), but to no avail. Maharashtra CET Cell, the state authority responsible for admissions to professional courses. When no action was taken by the Maharashtra CET Cell and FRA, Mashalkar moved the Bombay High Court and filed a petition.

In his petition, Mashalkar claimed that he was denied admission due to various "extraneous reasons" even though his documents were verified and he had bank demand drafts of Rs 31.5 lakh, which included IQ tuition fees, which is three times the regular fee, hostel and mess charges and security deposit.

In this regard, speaking to the Careers 360, he said “An institute representative first objected to me being accompanied by a local guardian, instead of my parents, despite no such requirement from the Maharashtra CET Cell. They, then, falsely claimed that I came through an agent. And finally, they asked me to pay five times the tuition fees in place of the maximum permitted three times”.

Meanwhile, a hearing was also held by the FRA's grievance committee last week. During the hearing, it was claimed that the student was denied admission because he was not willing to pay the fees. Further, FRA stated that the candidate is eligible to participate in the upcoming NEET UG special vacancy round Cousneliing 2024, hence it was decided to take the complaint to ARA to decide further action.

Therefore, Mashalkar through his petition has also requested the court to direct the college to keep one IQ seat vacant till the final decision is taken and the candidate is allowed to temporarily attend MBBS classes as interim relief.