Uttarakhand High Court Quashes Retrospective Fee Hike For Ayurvedic Colleges In The State
Students challenged the fee hike stating that their tuition fees had been increased unilaterally without consulting FRC.
The Uttarakhand High Court quashed the retrospective application of a revised fee structure for Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) students enrolled in various Ayurvedic colleges in the state.
The students, who had filed writ petitions between 2020 and 2024, challenged the fee hike, stating that their tuition fees had been increased unilaterally in 2015 without consulting the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC), which is a violation of the Uttarakhand Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006. This fee hike had been set aside by the High Court in 2018 for not following the required procedure.
In 2019, the FRC determined a provisional revised fee, which was meant to be applicable from the 2019-20 academic year. However, this fee structure was made retrospectively applicable from 2020 by an appellate authority. The students argued that this retrospective application was not permissible, and that the revised fee was only meant to apply to future batches, not to students who had already been admitted.
A Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari held, “Every college, before commencement of academic session, will have to require before the committee (FRC), the proposed fee structure and the fee determined by the committee, shall be applicable for a period of three years and after expiry of three years, the college would be at liberty to apply for revision,”
The Court rejected the State’s defense, ruling that the retrospective application of the revised fee was not permitted under the 2006 Act and imposed an unlawful and arbitrary financial burden on the students. The Court emphasized that neither the State nor the private college managements had the authority to revise fees without involving the FRC.
The Court held that the order issued by the appellate authority in January 2020, which enforced the retrospective fee hike, violated the principles of fairness and statutory compliance. The Court directed that the revised fees determined by the FRC in 2019 would apply only prospectively. Additionally, the Court ordered that the Ayurvedic colleges issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to the affected students, but only after collecting the original, previously stipulated fees.
Cause Title: Bindiya Khatri & Ors. v. State of Uttarakhand & Ors., [2025:UHC:344]
Appearance:
Petitioners: Advocates Abhijay Negi, Vinod Tiwari, and Snigdha Tiwari
Respondents: Standing Counsel Yogesh Chandra Tiwari, Advocate Sandeep Kothari, Advocate Vipul Sharma, Advocate Navneet Kaushik, Advocate Aditya Pratap Singh
