Rs 10 lakh processing fee for MBBS admissions: HC issues notices to state, medical college

Bhopal: While considering a plea that challenged the provision requiring a Rs 10 lakh processing fee at the time of counselling for MBBS admissions, a Division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has sought the response from the State authorities.

TOI has reported that the HC bench has issued notices to the authorities, including the principal secretary of medical education, the director of medical education, and RKDF Medical College, Bhopal.

Approaching the High Court bench, the students, who are willing to get admitted to the MBBS course, submitted that they had paid Rs 10 lakh each to the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), Madhya Pradesh, before the counselling. Consequently, they participated in the first round of counseling and were allotted seats as well. However, before the second round, they surrendered their allotted seats after securing admission in a college in Maharashtra.

According to the petitioners, when they sought a refund of the processing fee, they were informed that it was non-refundable.

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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the counsel for the petitioner Tejas Ravish Kumar and other students, Senior counsel Aditya Sanghi argued that charging Rs 10 lakh as a processing fee during the counselling blatantly violated Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution and therefore should be declared ultra vires.

He argued that the processing fee prevents students from securing admission in better or more suitable colleges in subsequent counselling rounds since the amount is confiscated by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and not refunded.

It was further contended by the petitioners' counsel, Advocate Sanghi, that since the petitioners surrendered their seats before the second round and these seats were reassigned to other students, the fee taken from them should be refunded.

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