Lawfully Yours: By Retired Justice K Chandru | Litigations haven't succeeded in stopping colleges from collecting excess fees
Your legal questions answered by Justice K Chandru, former Judge of the Madras High Court Do you have a question? Email us at citizen.dtnext@dt.co.in
Justice K Chandru
Litigations haven't succeeded in stopping colleges from collecting excess fees
I am a first-year MBBS student in Tamil Nadu. Our private medical college has collected an excess fee of Rs 3.5 lakh from each student violating prescribed norms. Attempts to raise this issue have been met with coercion and intimidation. Many students, including myself, feel trapped and are unsure how to address this injustice without jeopardizing our education.
Request your advice on:
1. The legal avenues available to recover excess fees while ensuring our safety as current students.
2. The role of regulatory bodies like the National Medical Commission or State Fee Regulatory Committees in addressing such grievances.
3. Any precautions we should take to avoid retaliation. Rahul, MBBS student, Chennai
Overcharging fees more than stipulated has become a vexed issue which has found no full answer in the courts. Despite having an Indian Medical Council (IMC), a government fees fixation committee and several oversight mechanisms, some college managements devise new methods to circumvent their regulations.
Several litigations and criminal cases were lodged but with little result. Since you have many years to study in that institution one cannot rule out the possible repercussions on your pursuing legal options.
If you persist you can file a writ petition in the High Court and get relief. A criminal complaint with the police also may bring some relief. But both are time-consuming and you may have to spend considerable amounts towards legal fees and other expenses. Your attention to pursue your education may get diverted also.
Think twice before pursuing any action Good public transport system can bring down traffic, help reduce violations
Has driving or riding on the wrong side become the norm these days? Or has this become permissible with the law turning a blind eye? Often this is happening right under the nose of traffic cops. Wondering what the law enforcers are doing when driving on the wrong side of the road is an offence that can attract fines that extend up to imprisonment. But the enforcers appear to be more keen on filling their own pockets and looking the other way. Jayakumar, Madhavaram, Chennai
Many don't realise that keeping left is always right. But in the UK they still follow the 'keep left' rule despite other European countries having the other, 'keep right' rule. No doubt traffic police do not check these violations. But the recent Metro rail digging works on main roads have sent the traffic rules haywire. A recent study has shown that it is mostly the youth who are mostly violating traffic rules. But the most important lesson that we are yet to draw is that we have more vehicles than what the public roads can encounter.
The better solution is to improve public transport and utilise the same. Unless that happens these violations will become the order of the day.
