The Madras High Court has ordered Annamalai University to refund Rs 10.5 lakhs to a student who opted out of the university’s MBBS programme.
A single bench of Justice K Kumaresh Babu was hearing a plea filed by an MBBS student against Annamalai University, which demanded that she pay the remaining fee of Rs 22,52,000 in order for the transfer certificate to be provided.
The petitioner enrolled in the MBBS programme at Annamalai University in August 2016, but was later admitted to another college.
The bench noted that the university had a bond clause in its admission prospectus that stated that if students dropped out after July 2016, they would have to pay a Rs 5 lakh penalty. According to the Annamalai prospectus, the Rs 5 lakh is in addition to the forfeiture of tuition and other fees.
It stated that the institution can only retain the fee for the months in which the student has studied after noting that the vacant seat at the Annamalai University was subsequently filled and that the university did not incur any loss.
The High Court observed that this clause violated Supreme Court principles by allowing an institution to collect more than what it is entitled to collect in tuition fees and other institutional expenditures.
Furthermore, according to UGC norms, a university cannot retain the first year fee obtained from the student and may only retain the fee for the months the student was enrolled in the institution, which in this case was only two months.
