JUDGMENT :

The question of benefit of fee concession for students of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes community undergoing their study in an unaided educational institution has arisen in this writ petition. Five undergraduate students of Nirmala Arts & Science College, Mulanthuruty, Ernakulam, are the petitioners. All of them are undisputedly Scheduled Caste students.

2. At the time of filing the writ petition, petitioners were pursuing their undergraduate courses and were in their 5th semester at that time. They were lured into their respective courses on the basis of Ext.P1 prospectus issued by the Mahatma Gandhi University which provided in clause 9.2 that the “candidates belonging to SC/ST communities allotted against merit seats or against the seats reserved for them are exempted from payment of fee.” Petitioners were allotted to the 6th respondent college-an unaided college, through a centralised allotment process to the seats earmarked under reserved category for Scheduled Caste students, as is evidenced by Ext.P2. Till the 5th semester, petitioners were never confronted with any demand for payment of their fee, but, in the latter half of the 5th semester, they were asked to