Medical education: Professional programme Fees must be notified before admission, mid-course hike only in exceptional circumstances, says SC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has clarified that changing the fee structure of professional courses after admission is not allowed except in exceptional circumstances. The observation also applies to medicine courses.
Although a top court bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe appreciated the contribution of self-financing institutions in the education sector, it also observed that there should be certainty regarding fees and the students must not be forced to pay more than the prescribed at the time of admission.
Taking note of the fact that the fees charged in professional courses are reported to be 711% higher than in general courses, the Supreme Court bench observed, "For the overwhelming majority of households, the fee payable for a professional course constitutes a substantial part of the family's income and savings; it is not a matter of incidental expenditure. The parents make provisions for the fees... with the aspiration that their children will acquire better qualifications, secure better opportunities and build a future that may be better than their own. Many students and families also depend on educational loans to finance professional higher education."
According to a TOI report, the top court bench also observed that it was a matter of good governance for the State and its regulatory bodies to create an ecosystem in which there was certainty regarding the financial obligation that the students and their families must undertake for acquiring professional qualifications.
"Adverse variations in financial commitment, and the insecurities that it may create, will impact the student and the family, and, in the long run, have an adverse effect on the quality and character of the professionals in the making. We are of the opinion that it is not difficult to formulate a scheme through which such uncertainties can be avoided," observed the Supreme Court bench.
The Apex Court made these observations while quashing a 37% fee hike for BTech courses for the 2023-27 cohort at Dr BC Roy Engineering College in West Bengal.
Granting relief to the students who had challenged the fee hike, the top court bench observed, "The regulatory regime for fixation of fees, as contemplated in the decisions of this court, AICTE regulations, National Education Policy 2020 coupled with principles of certainty, necessitates the relevant authorities to notify fee payable for the entire course before a student takes admission... Variation is permissible only in exceptional instances such as unforeseen increase in the expenditure."
