Kerala Private Medical College Management Association v. State of Kerala
2025-06-09
D.K.SINGH
body2025
DigiLaw.ai
JUDGMENT : D. K. SINGH, J. The petitioners are educational institutions providing MBBS and postgraduate degrees in the medical field. As the prayers in both the writ petitions are similar, the prayers sought in W.P.(C) No.41219/2024 are as follows: “i) issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing Exhibit P2 Government Order limited extent that it restricts the collection of Rs. 16,65,720/- as NRI Quota tuition fees instead of Rs.21,65,720/-. ii) issue any writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction directing the 2nd respondent to transfer the entire tuition fee amount of 21,65,720/- from the NRI Quota students of the petitioner’s college instead of Rs. 16,65,720/- without any further delay. iii) issue such other appropriate writ, order or direction as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit, just, and proper to grant on the facts and circumstances of the case. iv) to dispense with the filing of English translations of the vernacular documents.” 2. The learned Counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader are in consensus ad idem to submit that the controversy involved in these writ petitions is covered by the judgment of the Supreme Court in The State of Kerala v. The Principal, KMCT Medical College , [2025 SCC OnLine 1141] in favour of the petitioners. So far as the corpus fund to be collected from the NRI students pursuing the MBBS Degree is concerned, the Supreme Court in the concluding paragraph, i.e., paragraph 39, has held as under: “39. In light of above discussion, we deem it appropriate to allow the appeal by the self-financing medical colleges in part; dismiss the appeals filed by the State of Kerala and the NRI students; and modify the Impugned Judgment of the High Court dated 23.07.2020, with the following directions and conclusions: i. The High Court was correct in quashing the Government Order (MS) No. 107/2018/H&FWD dated 06.06.2018; ii. If the State seeks to establish a corpus fund or any other such mechanism to subsidize education for students from weaker backgrounds, in line with the vision enshrined in P. A. Inamdar (supra), it may do so by enacting suitable Legislation to that effect; iii.
If the State seeks to establish a corpus fund or any other such mechanism to subsidize education for students from weaker backgrounds, in line with the vision enshrined in P. A. Inamdar (supra), it may do so by enacting suitable Legislation to that effect; iii. The self-financing medical colleges are entitled to retain the fees transferred to the State for the creation of the ’corpus fund’ substantially for the purpose of subsidizing the fees charged to BPL students admitted to those colleges, as per the directions contained in paragraph 37 of this judgement; iv. The BPL students, who were admitted on the basis of scholarship schemes or who are to be admitted in future, shall not be required to pay the full, regular fees. They will continue to pay fees at the subsidized rate fixed by the State or the Committee. If they have paid any fees, over and above the subsidized amount promised, they are entitled to a refund of the amounts so paid. Alternatively, those amounts may be set-off against the fees to be charged for later years. Such a refund must be made within 3 months; v. The State of Kerala is directed to release the fees collected for the creation of a corpus fund back to the respective colleges within a period of 3 months without prejudice to the right and responsibility assigned in paragraph 37 of this judgement: vi. The NRI students are not entitled to a refund of the amount transferred to the State for the creation of the ’corpus fund. They are directed to pay the entire fees to their respective colleges, as approved by the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee, if not already done, within 3 months; and vii. The State of Kerala or the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee is at liberty to direct the colleges to furnish their accounts to establish that the directions given herein have been complied with.” As the issue involved in these writ petitions is squarely covered by the judgment of the Supreme Court, these writ petitions are disposed of in terms of the aforesaid judgment passed by the Supreme Court.