‘College fees revised mid-session can’t be enforced retrospectively’

Kolkata: Fees revised mid-session of the academic year cannot be implemented retrospectively. Calcutta High Court's division bench on Monday overturned a single bench's order allowing the fee hike for the 2023-27 batch of Durgapur's Dr BC Roy Engineering College.The division bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Supratim Bhattacharya held: "Seen from the prism of the students, who ultimately have to bear the brunt of enhanced fees, if the rules of the game are changed after commencement of the same, students who are sponsored by their families by scraping together resources and/or taking loans might find it impossible to carry on with their education in their chosen college at all. Students coming from marginalised backgrounds would take the worst hit in such a scenario… A retrospective implementation of a revised and enhanced fee structure mid-session, after students opted for particular colleges not only on their merits but also the fee structures, might be fatal to the academic career of the students as well, which hits at the very root and purpose of the entire body of education jurisprudence."While the college was allowed to implement the hike for future batches, like 2024-28, or on students who took admission in the 2023-24 academic year after the fee hike notification was given, the division bench noted the financial plight of students who chose the college based on the old fee structure, took loans, and whose families managed the fee only for it to be hiked mid-way."The writ court is not merely a court of law but primarily a court of equity, having wings which are not available to a court determining disputes within the constraints of pure procedural law. Hence, the element of choice of the students has to be recognised by the writ court to be governed by their financial capacity apart from merit," the division bench held.The college was directed to either refund the additional fee taken from this batch of students or adjust it in future semester fees, stating such payment was made under "compulsion and on threat of expulsion or losing their academic year and not voluntarily."The students qualified in WBJEE on May 26, 2023. They took admission in the B Tech courses for the batch 2023-2027 between July 31, 2023, and Sept 16, 2023, depositing the entire course fees for different semesters at the rate published by the college during the admission process. The first semester classes commenced and the academic session for the year 2023-24 began in Sept 2023. After the registration with the university on Oct 3, the fee structure was hiked on Oct 16, 2023, for semesters from Jan 2024 onwards.The college's argument was that a substantial number of students have already paid the fee. They also stated it was after a long time and continuous deliberation that the expert committee increased the fee. Since the approval came in Oct 2023, they issued the notification accordingly.But it was pointed out by the division bench that the notice stated the fee hike to be applicable post-notification. Hence, it could not have been applicable to the 2023-2027 batch, which had already taken admission. The college sought a stay after judgment delivery, but it was refused by the division bench.