By Arun Pratap Singh
Nainital, 14 Jan: In a major relief to students, the Nainital High Court has ruled against the retrospective implementation of a fee hike in private Ayurvedic medical colleges of Uttarakhand. The court today directed that the increased tuition fees introduced in 2019 cannot be charged from students who were admitted during the academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19. The case was heard by a single judge bench comprising Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari.
The High Court, in its judgment, annulled the decision of the Appellate Authority that had permitted the implementation of the fee hike starting from the 2017-18 session. The Court made it clear that the revised fee structure approved during the Regulatory Committee’s meeting held on 4 April 2019, can only be made applicable from the academic session 2019-20 onwards.
In its judgement, the court also ordered private Ayurvedic Colleges to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to the affected students. Following the issuance of these NOCs, the universities have been instructed to release the students’ educational certificates without any further delay, enabling them to proceed with their internships.
The case was heard by a single bench led by Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari, who addressed the petitions filed by Shivam Tiwari, a BAMS student at Doon Institute of Medical Sciences, Sahaspur (Dehradun), and other students, including Vindhya Khatri.
During the hearing, the petitioners argued that when they enrolled in Ayurvedic medical colleges, the tuition fee was set at Rs 80,500 per year. However, in April 2019, the Fee Regulatory Commission increased this fee to Rs 2.15 lakh per year and applied the hiked fee with retrospective effect also in respect of the students who had joined the colleges during the 2017-18 academic session. The petitioners contended that this retroactive implementation was unfair and violated their rights.
The Regulatory Commission, composed of retired judges and IAS officers, had however ruled in favour of the private Ayurvedic Medical Colleges. But, today, the court ruled in favour of the students, stating that such retrospective changes are untenable.
As a result of the High Court judgement delivered today, the students admitted during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years will no longer be required to pay the increased fees for those two years. This decision also resolved a long-standing issue of students being denied no-dues certificates and their subsequent inability to receive educational certificates from universities, which had hindered their internships.
