BENGALURU: There cannot be a uniform fee for various courses in different educational institutions, the high court court observed in a recent judgment, while granting relief to several deemed universities of the state, reports Vasantha Kumar. A division bench clearly held that the cost of education will vary from institution to institution and depends on several factors.
Court: Various factors impact fee structure
A division bench headed by Justice Alok Aradhe pointed out that in the PA Inamdar case, the Supreme Court had clearly held that the cost of education may vary from institution to institution and depends on many factors including quality of education.
"It is also recognised that educational institutions may charge the fee that would take care of various expenses incurred, in addition to making provisions for expansion of education for future generation. Thus, in fixing the fee structure, various factors like infrastructure facilities available, investment made, salaries paid to teachers and staff and future plans for expansion and/or betterment of institutions, all the exceptions have to be taken into account," the bench further noted in the order.
The bench added that materials placed before the court clearly indicate that the Fee Regulatory Committee passed orders in violation of principles of natural justice and in violation of the statutory mandate in Section 7(1) of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006 and merely on the basis of fee fixed for academic year 2017-2018, clearly depicting non-application of mind.
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Nitte University, Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education, Yenepoya University, KLE Academy of Higher Education, MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences and PES University had challenged the order passed by the Fee Regulatory Committee in June- July, 2018, applicable to academic year 2018-19.
The basic challenge was the fee fixed for MBBS course, wherein the committee had fixed Rs 6,83,100 as fees for first year, adding an additional amount of 8% over fees for academic year 2017-18. The same methodology was adopted for engineering course fee too.
