Apex court setback to Maha deemed univs in fee dispute

MUMBAI: A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice H C Dattu, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Amitava Roy recently stayed a high court order on reimbursement of fees of the socially and economically backward class students in the professional colleges run by deemed universities.

A senior bureaucrat confirmed that the development. "Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi brought to the notice of the apex court that it was within the state government's powers to deny reimbursement of fees to backward class students of colleges run by deemed universities," he said. B S Thorat, a resident from Dhule, had filed a PIL against the state's decision to refuse reimbursement of fees to backward class students of the deemed universities. On July 27, 2009, the state had drafted a scheme to reimburse fees payable by backward class students.

The state had justi ere participating in the common entrance tests or centralized admission process. The deemed universities are admitting the students at their level and therefore the government excluded the students, as such there is no discrimination, the state mentioned in an affidavit before the HC.

The high court observed that the state government's decision to treat socially and economically backward class students in professional colleges run by deemed universities differently from similar students in the recognized unaided and permanently unaided colleges for the purpose of fee reimbursement violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

The court had declared that benefits under the scholarships cannot be denied to the students of deemed universities, who are otherwise eligible to post-matric scholarships under the scheme and that state shall not discriminate between the students of deemed universities and students of recognized educational institutions.

Source | Times of India | 13 August 2015