1 week ago
Bombay High Court Orders Reimbursement After Six-Year Medical Fee Fight
Four students in Maharashtra got high marks in a medical entrance test.
They said reservation rules meant they missed out on government medical-college seats.
Instead, they had to study at private colleges, which cost much more money.
Maharashtra had created a scheme to repay some students in this situation, but these four were left out.
The government said they would not have received government seats anyway.
The High Court found that some students with lower marks had received the money.
It said the scheme was handled unfairly and without enough transparency.
The court ordered the government to repay the eligible difference in fees with interest.
It also ordered extra payments to the students and an inquiry into what went wrong.
Four Maharashtra medical students said reservation changes denied them government seats despite higher NEET-UG merit.
The state’s 2019 scheme promised reimbursement for eligible students who lost government or aided seats because of EWS and SEBC admissions.
Authorities excluded the students, arguing they would not have obtained government or aided seats even without the reservations.
The High Court found that 25 of 106 beneficiaries had lower scores or ranks and criticized the scheme’s “pick and choose” implementation.
The court ordered reimbursement with 6% interest, rising to 9% for delays, plus Rs 50,000 costs for each student.
- Who
- Four students from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar—Prajwal Kasbekar, Sejal Bhale, Aishwarya Dhadwal and Sharvari Deshmukh—challenged Maharashtra authorities.
- What
- The Bombay High Court ordered reimbursement of eligible private medical-college fees after finding problems in the application of the reimbursement scheme.
- Where
- The case was heard by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court in Maharashtra.
- When
- The dispute began during the 2018–19 admissions process; the students approached the court in 2020 and 2021, after more than six years of uncertainty.
- Why
- The students argued that EWS and SEBC reservations denied them government seats despite higher NEET-UG merit and that they were wrongly excluded from fee reimbursement.
Petitioners and High Court
Maharashtra Authorities
Eligibility for reimbursement
Petitioners and High Court
The students argued that their higher merit and government-college preferences showed they lost opportunities because of the EWS and SEBC reservations.
Maharashtra Authorities
The state argued that the students would not have secured government or aided-college seats even without the reservations.
Fairness of beneficiary selection
Petitioners and High Court
The petitioners said the scheme was applied selectively because 25 beneficiaries had lower scores or ranks, and no Marathwada student was included.
Maharashtra Authorities
Authorities maintained that the petitioners did not qualify under the scheme; the High Court found official records showing that lower-merit students had received reimbursement.
Administrative conduct
Petitioners and High Court
The High Court said the admission process and reimbursement implementation lacked transparency and accuracy and required an inquiry into the problems.
Maharashtra Authorities
Officials later offered unconditional apologies after contempt proceedings began over their absence and statements about original records; the proceedings were recalled, with Rs 10,000 fines imposed on each of three officials.
Key facts
- Students’ NEET-UG scores
- The students scored 527, 526, 524 and 522 out of 720.
- Reservations involved
- The Centre introduced 10% EWS reservations, while Maharashtra introduced SEBC reservations for the Maratha community.
- State quota
- The students said the reservations affected the 85% state quota.
- Reimbursement scheme
- A September 20, 2019 Government Resolution covered eligible students who lost government or aided-college opportunities because of EWS and SEBC admissions.
- Beneficiary comparison
- The petitioners identified 25 of 106 beneficiaries who had lower NEET scores or ranks.
- Private-college fees
- The petitioners said private medical education cost at least Rs 25–30 lakh per student.
- Court-ordered payments
- Reimbursement carries 6% simple interest, rising to 9% for delay; each petitioner also receives Rs 50,000 in costs.
Quotes
Bombay High Court division bench
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court hearing the students’ reimbursement petitions.
“The admission process and implementation of the fee reimbursement scheme “utterly lacked” transparency and accuracy, and that authorities had interfered with the students’ careers through the “wrongful application of quota system”.”
indianexpress.com
“The Court said the authorities’ conduct in the present case “unfortunately extirpates trust” in the minds of citizens about “transparency of the system,” despite the government’s “novel and benevolent objects”.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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