Court upheld the government's authority to revise fee structures mid-course in self-financing institutions based on regulations, as long as such changes were communicated at admission time, dismissing claims of contractual violation.

JUDGMENT :

Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, J.

Preface:

1. For the sake of thematic coherence, all three writ petitions are taken up for hearing together. The aforesaid writ petitions have been filed by a group of students presently pursuing the four-year B.Tech. Programme (Batch 2023–2027) at Dr. B.C. Engineering College, Durgapur, Paschim Burdwan, calling into question the legality and justifiability of Notification No. 466-Edn(T)/10M- 04/2004 (Part-IV) dated 16.10.2023 issued by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, Department of Higher Education, whereby a mid- course enhancement of fees was directed. The petitioners have, therefore, prayed for issuance of a writ of certiorari for quashing the said notification dated 16.10.2023. In addition, the petitioners have prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the college authorities to withdraw and/or cancel the revised fee structure appearing at Annexure-P-4 to the writ petition and to accept fees in accordance with the earlier fee structure as reflected in Annexure-P-2 to the writ petition.

Petitioners’ case:

2. Before entering into the merits of the issues involved in the present writ petition, it would be apposite to briefly advert to the facts leading to its institution.

3. In or about August 2023, the petitioners secured admission to the four-year B.Tech. undergraduate course in different departments of Dr. B.C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur, a self-financing engineering institution affiliated to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (for short, MAKAUT) and approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi (respondent no. 5 herein), as well as by the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, through the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (in short, WBJEE) and Joint Entrance Examination-Main ( in short, JEE-Main), conducted by National Testing Agency (in short, NTA) in 2023.

4. At the time of admission, the respondent college communicated a definitive and uniform fee structure, which was accepted by the petitioners as governing the financial terms of their academic engagement. Relying upon the aforesaid representation, the petitioners completed their admission formalities. Several petitioners, acting on the disclosed fee structure, applied for and obtained educational loans from various nationalised and private banking institutions, which were sanctioned strictly on the basis of the fee structure communicated by the respondent college.

5. In October 2023, the petitioners duly completed their registration. Upon such registration, the petitioners’ admissions stood formally confirmed, and the statutory window for withdrawal from, or migration to, any other institution for the relevant academic session stood closed.

6. Subsequent thereto, on 16th October, 2023, the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, issued Notification No. 466-Edn- (T)/10M-04/2004 (Part IV), whereby the upper fee ceiling for self-financing engineering colleges in the State was revised upwards, ostensibly to address increased operational and infrastructural costs.

7. In November 2023, after completion of the MAKAUT registration process, the respondent college authorities (respondent nos. 10–12), placing reliance on the aforesaid notification, issued a revised fee demand upon the petitioners with effect from the second semest