NEHA CHOUDHARY AND ORS. Vs. STATE AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE appeals seek to challenge judgment of the learned Single Bench dated 25/10/2012 whereby, five writ petitions filed by the appellants were dismissed. Appellants writ -petitioners appeared in the Rajasthan Pre -Medical Test and were admitted to Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar - on the basis of their selection by the U.G. Admission Board for their admission to MBBS Course in the academic sessions starting from 2008, 2009 and 2010. In their writ petitions, appellants/writ -petitioners have challenged the fee structure of Jhalawar Medical College. All the appellants successfully qualified the Rajasthan Pre -Medical Test and were called to appear for counselling. By the time their turn to appear in the counselling came, all seats in the government medical colleges were exhausted and therefore they were offered admission in Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar. Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar, has intake of 100 seats of which 50 are free seats and students admitted against those seats are charged nominal fee at par with what is payable in government medical colleges, 35 payment seats and those admitted against these seats are required to pay fee as per the prescription by the Fee Regulatory Committee for private medical college and 15 NRI seats. Petitioners were admitted against the payment seats on which they were required to pay for the batch of the year 2008 annual fee of Rs. 1,95,010/ -, for the batch of year 2009 Rs. 2,61,675/ - and for the batch of year 2010 Rs. 2,56,235/ -. They took admission and paid fee for their first year and filed writ petition challenging the fee structure.

(2.) JHALAWAR Medical College has been set up and is being run by a Society styled as Jhalawar Hospital and Medical College Society, a society registered under the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958 on 8/8/2007. As per prospectus of the Jhalawar Hospital and Medical College, the governing body of the aforesaid society consists of the following: - -

(3.) LEARNED Single Judge dismissed the writ petitions by repelling challenge to the fee structure holding that the Jhalawar Medical College in fact is a self -financing institution and also dismissed the writ petition on the ground of estoppel further holding that since the petitioners had accepted the admission by making deposit of the initial fee, they would now be estopped from challenging the fee structure. Learned Single Judge on the basis of the interim order passed in SBCWP No. 18153/2011 dated 18/1/2012 required all the petitioners in five writ petitions to pay the fee for the remaining semesters together with interest @ 15% p.a., which was hitherto not paid because of the interim protection given by this Court.