BHAVANS N.A.PALKHIVALA ACADEMY FOR ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES & RESEARCH Vs. FEE REGULATORY COMMITTEE FOR PROFESSIONAL COLLEGES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) What the petitioner shows in the singular facts of this case can at best be termed a conundrum. The petitioner runs a Self Financing Law College, the details of which we will come to presently, and in order to have its fee structure fixed, it approached the Government, which concededly is the sole authority to do so, but were asked by it to approach the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC in short) constituted under the provisions of the Kerala Professional Colleges or Institution (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fee and other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence in Professional Education) Act, 2006. The FRC finally fixed the fee structure, which the petitioner says was under the express and unequivocal request of the Government but the position taken by the Government and interestingly even by the FRC now, is that since the College of the petitioner is not the one coming under the definitional compass of Section 2(r) of the Act, , the orders and proceedings of the FRC are not applicable to the college.

(2.) The petitioner impugns this stand of the Government and our consideration is called to whether the FRC constituted under the Act, can obtain jurisdiction over Law colleges and other colleges which do not come under the statutory umbra of the Act.

(3.) A brief narrative of the facts first will be in order.