The Madras High Court has upheld the fee structure fixed for students, doing their MBBS and BDS courses in Raja Muthiah Medical College, a constituent of the Annamalai University, now state run University, for the academic year 2014-15.
Justice V Ramasubramanian dismissed a batch of petitions from M Aamira Fathima and 189 other MBBS and BDS second year students, challenging the fee structure of Rs 5.54 lakh for MBBS and Rs 3.50 lakh for BDS courses.
The Raja Muthiah Medical College was originally designated to be a private unaided professional college supported by the Annamalai University from out of its funds.
"But today, it is financially in the intensive care unit and any attempt at reducing the fee structure would destroy the very institution and may result in either the closure of the medical college on the ground of unviability or the return of the university by the government to Founder's family. Both these consequences are disastrous for the students," the judge said.
The judge said the petitioners did not come within the zone of consideration in the single window counselling to secure admission in government colleges or government quota in self financing colleges.
"Today, due to sudden turn of events and due to fortuitous circumstance of the government taking over the University, if I hold that the petitioners are liable only to pay the same fee as charged in government colleges an inequitable and unjust consequence may flow."
"The students, who are more meritorious than the petitioners and who were allotted to the self financing colleges in the single window system, are now paying Rs 2.80 lakh in those colleges. But, the petitioners would be paying a lesser fee than their more meritorious counterparts," the judge added.
Pointing out that the fee structure was necessitated by the financial position of the college and justified by the income and expenditure account, the judge said as on July 31, 2014, the Annamalai University had a negative balance of Rs 385 crore for medical account alone.
Even with the annual fee of Rs 5.54 lakh for MBBS and Rs 3.50 lakh for BDS, the University had a short fall of Rs 18 crore in the academic year 2013-14.
The government has taken a positive stand that the fee fixed by the University is not with the object of profiteering but for the purpose of at least partially compensating for the expenditure involved in running the institutions, the judge said.
