Kerala HC Orders Private Medical Colleges Not to Charge Fees in Advance; Calls it 'profiteering'; Check Details Here

Kerala High Court has ordered all the private medical colleges in the state to not charge any kind of fees from the medical aspirants in advance. As the fees charged in advance during the pandemic will be considered as 'profiteering'. 

The state high court has restrained the Kerala private medical colleges from charging fees in advance because there were reports which revealed that these colleges were demanding fees for the next year in advance as the medical institutes were facing financial crisis. 

According to the latest reports, Kerala High Court has said that collecting annual fees from medical aspirants for the next year in advance when the current year's studies is still in progress would lead the institute to "profiteering". 

The high court ensured that its orders were to function only in the unusual situation caused owing to the prevailing covid-19 pandemic when instructions being imparted for a particular year in medical colleges could not be completed in the prescribed time due to the spread of coronavirus. 

A bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Mohammed Nias C P said that undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought an unusual or exceptional situation fraught with financial implications. 

Further, the pandemic circumstances not only affected the educational institutions but also the student community and their financier guardians, the justices added. 

The bench of justices expressed their views stating that it would be unethical for the private medical colleges to demand the fees, regardless of difficulties and financial constraints faced by the medical aspirants. 

The bench said that the fees were remuneration for a service rendered but if it is collected for a future period, that fees would be considered as a payment for services yet to be rendered and in such a case the educational institutions would then be resorting to profiteering.

This judgment was passed by the high court while hearing petitions filed by the medical aspirants of the 2019-2020 batch of MBBS courses in various private medical colleges against the demand notices for fees in advance.9K