The imposition of excessive fees for medical college admission violates the equality principle under Article 14, compromising access to education for economically disadvantaged students.

1. W. P. No. 3642 of 2004 is a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a practising Advocate at Bilaspur and a journalist and social activist and the other petitions are writ petitions filed by individual students challenging the decision of the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences and Guru Ghasidas University, Bikalpur to charge fees of Rs. 34,500/- and Rs. 2,50,000/- per student admitted into the free seats and payment seats respectively in the M.B.B.S. degree course of the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Science, Bikalpur.

2. The facts briefly are that the State of Chhattisgarh was formed w.e.f. 1-11-2000 by the M. P. Reorganisation Act, 2000. In the newly formed State of Chhattisgarh, there was only one medical college at Raipur with only 100 seats for the M.B.B.S. course. A second medical college in the State of Chhattisgarh was, therefore, though necessary in the public interest to meet the deficiency of qualified medical personnel in the State and to improve the availability of medical manpower in the State. Accordingly, pursuant to an earlier resolution of the Planning and Evolution Board of the Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur (for short "the University"), the State Government and the University entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on 18th January, 2002 to establish a second medical college in the State of Chhattisgarh to be called the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (for short "CIMS"). Under the said Memorandum of Understanding (for short "the MOU"), CIMS was to be established, owned and managed by the University and for establishment of CIMS, the State Government was to provide the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Government Hospital, Bilaspur 467 beds, and with all its facilities and staff as well as land measuring 25 acres in and around the said hospital along with the assets and CIMS was to be a joint venture of the University and the State Government. The MOU further provided that the existing facilities of medical equipment of the said hospital shall be available, extended and upgraded for the use of the students of the proposed CIMS for fulfilling the terms and conditions of the Medical Council of India. After the MOU, the State Government has provided to CIMS the funds and financial support towards nonrecurring expenditure on all necessary infrastructure comprising of building, equipment, books and furniture but the recurring expenditure on qualified doctors and other staff are being met by CIMS out of the fees recovered from the students admitted to the different medical courses in CIMS. For meeting such recurring expenditure, out of the 100 seats on the MBBS course, CIMS started collecting in the year 2001 Rs. 29,5000/- per year per student for the first 50 free seats and Rs. 1,44,000/- per year for the remaining 50 payment seats including 15 seats for Non - resident Indians (NRI) and further Rs. 15 lakhs in the first year and Rs. 10 lakhs for the remaining years from Non - resident Indian students on yearly basis. Since Non - resident Indian students were not available for admission, the decision for collecting these additional amounts of Rs. 15 lakhs and Rs. 10 lakhs from Nonresident Indian students was given up and with effect from 2002-2003 fee against all payment seats was enhanced to Rs. 2,50,000/- per year. The rules for admission to the MBBS course for the session 2004-2005 were framed and approved by the Executive Council of the University providing, inter alia, for fees of Rs. 34,500/- per academic session for free seats (Government quota seats) and Rs. 2,50,000/- per academic session for payment seats (management quota) for the academi