The Madras High Court today
admitted a writ petition seeking to declare the fees fixed by the Annamalai University at Cuddalore for a MBBS medical seat as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional.
Justice M.Sathyanarayanan before whom the petition filed by K.Ramesh Kumar Raja of Vellore District came up, directed the University as well as the Director of Medical Education to reply before August 1 this year and posted the matter for further hearing on the same date.
In his petition, Ramesh Kumar said that as per the allotment order of Annamalai University he paid a sum of Rs.6,39,370 towards the fees for academic year 2014-15 for his daughter for MBBS.
The University was run by the state government by appointing administrator and the fee should be fixed as per government norms and as per the order of the High Court, the petitioner said. The petitioner said fees in government medical colleges was Rs.12,500 for a year while for other self-financing colleges, it is approximately Rs.2,00,000.
He alleged the fees structure of the University totally deprived the rights of poor persons who want to study professional courses like MBBS/BDS. He claimed that in view of the fees structure fixed, he is constrained to pay Rs.27,71,850/- for the entire five year course.
Stating that he is an agriculture worker who has an income of Rs.60,000 per year, the petitioner said he could not pay the amount and if he did not pay, his daughter's future studies will be affected.
He prayed for a direction from the court to direct the Director of Medical Education and other authorities to fix the fees at the rate fixed by government medical colleges to protect his daughter's medical education.
