Manager Believers Church Medical College Hospital vs Fee Regulatory Committee For Medical Education In Kerala

Anu Sivaraman, J

We have heard learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P(C).No.4297 of 2022 and W.P(C). No.26981 of 2021. We have also heard the learned Government Pleader, the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Fee Regulatory Committee as well as the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P(C).No.2584 of 2023.

We have gone through the orders impugned quite in detail and have considered the arguments advanced on all sides. It is the specific contention of learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner that the fixation of the fee for the year 2017-18 as Rs.4,40,100/-, was not on the basis of the accounts produced or the considerations as provided for in the Kerala Medical Education (Regulation and Control of Admission to Private Medical Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') or as directed by the Apex Court and this Court in the earlier rounds of litigation. It is contended that it is only on the basis of the actual fee collected for the year 2016-17 that the figure of Rs.4,40,100/- has been arrived at.

The learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Fee Regulatory Committee submits that the fixation of the amount of Rs.4,85,000/- as fee for the year 2017-18 in the two earlier rounds of fee fixation has been found to be substantially in accordance with the provision of the Act and that it was only on the ground of lack of quorum that the matter had been remanded to the Fee Regulatory Committee in the earlier round.

Having considered the contentions advanced and having heard the learned counsel on all sides, and in view of the submissions made before us, the parties are in agreement that the issue can be resolved, if the fee for the year 2017-18 is retained as Rs.4,85,000/- as has been done in the case of Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur and Jubilee Mission Medical College and many other Medical Colleges, which according to the parties are similarly situated institutions.

In the above view of the matter, on the basis of the consensus reached between the parties, we record that the parties are in agreement that the amount of Rs.4,85,000/- can be legitimately fixed as the fee for the year 2017-18 and the fees for the year 2018-19 to 2023-24 can be proportionally fixed in the similar manner in which it has been done for all other colleges, where the fee was fixed for the year 2017-18 as Rs.4,85,000/-.

For the years 2022-23 and 2023-24, it is submitted by learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Fee Regulatory Committee that a request will have to be made by the management for the fixation of the fee as has been done in all similar cases.

The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the management submitted that such a request will be made and that if the fee is fixed as Rs.4,85,000/- for the year 2017-18 and in the corresponding manner as has been done in the case of other similar colleges, the fixation of the fee will not be disputed any further by the management. The said submissions are recorded.

The above three writ petitions are closed in the light of the consensus arrived at, as recorded above.