ATUL BANSAL Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, aggrieved by the demand and recovery of higher fees from him for the MBBS course to which he was admitted, has filed this petition under art. 226 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) THE relevant facts briefly are that the petitioner appeared in the pre- Medical Test as a general candidate and secured 991. 32 marks out of 1200 marks and was at Serial No. 281 of the merit list. The seats in MBBS course in the government Medical Colleges were categorised as 'free seats' and 'payment seats'. The fees payable for a free seat was Rs. 35,000/- per annum and the fees payable for a payment seat was Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum. The petitioner's case is that as per his position in the merit list, he was entitled to admission in a free seat but instead, he was given admission in payment seat in the G. R. Medical college, Gwalior. The petitioner has therefore prayed for a direction to the respondents to charge only Rs. 35,000/- per annum for the MBBS course from the petitioner and not to demand Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum for the said MBBS course.

(3.) MR. Aditya Sanghi, learned Counsel for the petitioner, submitted that in Deepak Chaturvedi Vs. State of M. P. and others, 2008 (2) M. P. H. T. 256 (DB) = 2008 (1) MPLJ 306, a Division Bench of this Court has already held relying on Institute of Human Resources Vs. T. R. Ramesh Kumar, (1995) 4 SCC 211 that the scheme formulated by the Supreme Court in Unni Krishnan Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, (1993) 1 SCC 645, of free seats and payment seats for private professional colleges with nominal fees for 'free seats' and higher fees for 'payment seats' was not applicable to a College financed and controlled by the State Government. He submitted that the G. R. Medical College, Gwalior to which the petitioner was admitted for MBBS course was also a college financed and controlled by the State of M. P. and therefore, the scheme in Unni Krishnan (supra), of free seats and payment seats was not applicable to the G. R. Medical college, Gwalior. He further submitted that in any case, as per the merit position, the petitioner was entitled to admission in MBBS course in 'free seat' and accordingly was liable to pay lower fees in a private professional college and even if he was given admissions in Government College, on the basis of his own option, he was liable to pay fees applicable to 'free seats'.