Judgment

ORDER :- These matters were posted before us on October 4 and 5, 1993 for orders with respect to the fee structure in private professional colleges and for other appropriate orders. We have heard the learned Solicitor General for the Union of India, the learned Advocate-General for Karnataka and counsel for other States. In view of the non-admission of students to the private professional colleges even by now (first week of October) we called upon the counsel for the Union, the States and the private parties to tell us the way in which the present impasse can be resolved. We pointed out to the counsel that the refusal of the managements of the private professional colleges or, for that matter, their demand that they should be permitted to admit 50 of the students of their own choice cannot be and shall not be conceded. We made it clear that in case of the failure of the parties to find a reasonable wayout, this Court would be obliged to adopt coercive measures to enforce its judgment J. P. Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (1993) 1 SCC 645 and other orders in that behalf.

2. The learned Solicitor-General appearing for the Union of India submitted that in pursuance of the judgment in Unnikrishnan, the Central Government, Medical Council of India, All India Council for Technical Education and other similar bodies have promptly initiated the exercise for determining the fee structure. He placed before us the proceedings of the meeting of the sub-committee of the Medical Council of India held on April 12, 1993 and the affidavit filed on behalf of the All India Council for Technical Education (A.I.C.T.E.). The operative portion of the minutes of the sub-committees of the I.M.C. reads thus:

"Keeping all the factors into mind, the Committee recommended that the following fee structure may be considered :-

Rs. 80,000/- to Rs. 1,00,000/- per year per student Indian student joining the institutions having their own hospitals.

Rs. 60,000/- to Rs. 80,000/- from the students joining the institutions utilising the facilities of both Government as well as their own hospitals.

Rs. 40,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- from the students joining the institutions utilising the facilities completely as provided by Government hospitals. Fee to be charged from non-resident Indians is $50,000/- for the whole course."

3. So far as the engineering colleges are concerned, the learned Solicitor-General pointed out that though the A.I.C.T.E. has not taken any decision so far, it will, soon enough, issue regulations prescribing a reasonable and non-disparate fee structure for different States, effective from the academic year 1994-95. He pointed out that while the fee fixed for payment seats is Rs. 37,000/- in Madhya Pradesh, it is Rs. 20,000/- in Karnataka and that in other States a figure in between these two figures has been specified for payment seats. He submitted that for this year, this Court may fix a 16 tentative fee to be adjusted in accordance with the final fixation by the Central Government and/or the appropriate council/authority. The learned Solicitor-General assured us that the Central Government is fully committed to the full implementation of the judgment in Unnikrishnan and that any steps taken by this Court for implementation of the said judgment will have the unconditional support of the Union of India.

4. The learned Advocate-General of Karnataka submitted that the Karnataka Government has taken prompt steps for implementing the judgment of this Court in Unnikrishnan, (1993 AIR SCW 863), that the lists of free seats have already been published though lists of payment seats could not yet be communicated for want of certain relevant particulars. He stated that the State Government has also revised the fee structure pursuant to this Courts order dated August 18, 1993. He brought to our notice the present stand of the managements that unless they are permitted to admit 50 of the students of their choice, they will not open the professional