( 1 ) THESE appeals under Clause 15 of the Letters patent are preferred from the common judgment by, or on the basis of which the petitions of the appellants are rejected and challenge of the educational institutions to the fee-structure prescribed by Justice R. J. Shah (Retd.) fee Committee for Self-financed Professional Colleges is turned down. That Fee Committee, originally joined as the only respondent, was set up pursuant to the directions of the Supreme Court in ISLAMIC ACADEMY OF education v. STATE OF KARNATAKA [ (2003) 6 SCC 697]. Subsequently, the State of Gujarat have been added by an amendment as a party-respondent and the Parents association of Medical and Dental Students has also joined as party-respondent. Some students of the medical colleges at Karamsad and Surat also applied for being joined as parties and their advocates were also heard.

( 2 ) ACCORDING to the impugned judgment, mainly two contentions were raised to assail the decision of the respondent Committee. One was that the constitution of the Committee itself was bad in law and, therefore, its decision was ab initio void. The second contention was that the Committee has not given any reason for arriving at

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