The Madras High Court (HC) has refused to direct a private medical college to reduce the annual fee of ₹22.50 lakh, collected from MBBS students just because the institution had conducted only online classes since April this year due to the lockdown to fight COVID-19.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said: “Even though the situation is extraordinary, that does not mean that this court can exceed its limits and give directions which are not sustainable in the eye of law. Therefore, this court does not find any scope for reduction of tuition fees.”
The judge agreed with SRM Institute of Science and Technology and SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre at Kattankulathur in Kancheepuram district that the fee could not be reduced since the institutions had to incur expenditure under several heads.
It was brought to the notice of the court that medical colleges had to spend a considerable amount of money on maintaining the infrastructure and paying salaries to the staff even…