M. Aamira Fathima and Others v. Annamalai University and Others
Background
Students admitted to the MBBS and BDS courses at Annamalai University's Rajah Muthiah Medical College challenged the steep tuition fees (over Rs. 5.54 lakh per year) fixed unilaterally by the University, arguing the fee should instead be set by the statutory "Committee on Fixation of Fee" under the Tamil Nadu Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Collection of Capitation Fee) Act, 1992. Both the Single Judge and the Division Bench of the Madras High Court rejected the students' challenge, holding that the 1992 Act did not apply to the University without a specific Government notification, and that the students were in any case estopped from objecting since they had accepted the prospectus terms at admission. The students appealed to the Supreme Court by special leave.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the High Court misread Section 2(b) of the 1992 Act: an institution awarding a degree or diploma conferred by any Tamil Nadu state-legislature University automatically qualifies as an "educational institution" under the first limb of that definition, with no separate government notification required (notification is only needed for the second, residual limb covering other institutions). Since Annamalai University was deemed re-established under the Annamalai University Act, 2013 (a state law), it fell squarely within this definition, so Section 4(2-A)'s mandatory fee-fixation-by-Committee mechanism for medicine and engineering courses applied to it, overriding the University's general fee-setting powers under its own 2013 Act. The Court also rejected the estoppel argument, holding that a statutorily prescribed procedure cannot be bypassed merely because students accepted admission terms. The appeals were allowed, the High Court's judgment set aside, and the matter sent to the Fee Fixation Committee to determine the correct fee for 2013-14 onward (including the current 2018-19 session), with any excess collected to be adjusted for students' benefit.
Lesson Learnt
A private or formerly-private university that is established or re-established under a state law cannot escape a state's statutory fee-regulation mechanism for professional courses simply by relying on its own charter powers, and students do not lose their right to challenge an unlawful fee structure merely because they accepted the terms at the time of admission.