New Delhi: The top court has today observed the tuition fee hike in medical college and stated that education is not at all a business to earn profit. Supreme Court’s remark came while upholding Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order that set aside the State Government’s move to enhance the tuition fee payable by the students of MBBS.
The fee enhanced now is seven times higher than the fee that was fixed in the year 2011. The tuition fee enhanced to Rs. 24 lakh is from 2017. The Supreme Court observed that the action by the State Government is unjustifiable. The bench of Justices M R Shah and Sudhanshu Dhulia made the remarks while considering the case.
The court also ordered that the State Government and the medical college should deposit the fine of Rs. 2.5 lakh each with the national legal services authority and the mediation and conselliation project committee.
The High Court had earlier ordered to return the amount of the enhanced fee from 2017 to the students and the Supreme Court has approved this order.
Meanwhile, the court has observed that medical colleges can enhance the amount additional to the stipulated tuition fee in specific circumstances. The location of the medical college, nature of the professional course, facility of infrastructure, the cost for maintenance and for the growth and development of the institution, all these can be the reason for collecting additional tuition fee from the students, observed the court.
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