Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on June 24 dismissed a plea challenging the Economic Weaker Sections (EWS) criteria in the context of admissions to private medical colleges, refusing to accept the contention that the annual income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh for EWS candidates becomes meaningless when private medical colleges charge tuition fees running into lakhs of rupees.
A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi declined to interfere with a Rajasthan High Court judgment that had rejected the challenge mounted by Rajasthan domicile candidate Harshvardhan Singh, who had argued that the fee structure of private medical colleges effectively rendered EWS reservation illusory for economically weaker students.
During the hearing, the Justice Nagarathna-led Bench orally observed that self-financing private institutions could not be compelled to charge fees at par with government medical colleges merely because seats are reserved for EWS candidates.
The apex court highlighted the distinction between government and private educational institutions, remarking that government colleges receive financial support from the public exchequer while private colleges operate on a self-financing model. “These are self-financing institutes. For government ones, they get grants from the State. There is a vital difference,” the Justice Nagarathna-led Bench said.
It further said that while capitation fees are prohibited, that does not mean private colleges cannot charge regular tuition fees fixed under the applicable regulatory framework.
When the petitioner argued that EWS candidates from families earning less than Rs 8 lakh annually could not realistically afford annual tuition fees ranging between Rs 18 lakh and Rs 25 lakh in private medical colleges, the top court suggested that financial assistance mechanisms were available.
