Education Is Not A Business : Supreme Court

The court ruled that the judge examining the fee will do so within the parameters of the rules on fixation. This includes considering what factors are listed in Rule 4, including the location of the institution, its courses, and administrative costs. The deciding committee should also take into account factors like what happens if you waive tuition for some students and if any funds are used to help students belonging to certain categories of society.

The court noted that the AFRC must keep these factors in mind when they review a college or university’s tuition (or other fees).

The court also advised that there was no error committed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in issuing directions to refund the amount of tuition fee collected under the Government Order. The court said, “Therefore, the High Court is absolutely justified in quashing and setting aside Government Order dated September 6, 2017.”

“The management cannot be permitted to retain the amount recovered/collected pursuant to the illegal Government Order dated 06.09.2017. The medical colleges are the beneficiaries of the illegal Government Order dated September 6, 2017, which is rightly set aside by the High Court,” the court said as it noted that medical colleges have utilized the amount for a number of years and kept with them for a number of years on the other hand students paid exorbitant tuition fees after obtaining a loan from banks and financial institutions and paid higher rates of interest.

“Therefore, even the direction of the High Court to refund the amount of tuition fee collected pursuant to Government Order dated September 6, 2017, after making adjustments according to an earlier determination, is not required to be interfered with,” the court said. With these observations, the top court dismissed appeals filed by the medical college against the Andhra Pradesh high court order.