Uniform fee structures for educational institutions are impractical; fees must reflect allowable expenditures and institutional specifics.

Anil K. Narendran, J.

The petitioners, who are third parties to W.P.(C)No.19192 of 2019, have filed this review petition, seeking review of the judgment dated 19.05.2020 of a Division Bench of this Court in that writ petition. By the said judgment, W.P.(C)No.19192 of 2019 and connected matters, were allowed by setting aside the impugned orders and the 2^nd respondent Fee Regulatory Committee was directed to consider the matter afresh in the light of the observations contained therein, after affording sufficient opportunity to the writ petitioners to explain their statements. Paragraphs 15 to 19 and also the last paragraph of the said judgment read thus;

“15. Of course, in terms of Section 11 no rules have been prescribed. But while determining the fee of a private medical Institution, Section 11 lays down certain parameters which are required to be taken note of, before finalising the fee. We have made an attempt by calling upon the respective colleges to provide the details of the expenditure incurred by the college while taking into account the stipulations in Section 11 and in our interim order dated 14.01.2020. We have specifically requested them to exclude the income and expenditure of the hospital. Some of the petitioners have provided such a statement, whereas some of them had given a consolidated income and expenditure including that of the hospital taking into account the fact that it is not separable. We do not think it appropriate for us to fix the fee ourselves by engaging a Chartered Accountant as it would only be proper that the Committee itself examines the claims and give a reasoned order.

16. While undertaking such an exercise, the Committee shall consider whether the expenditure mentioned by the respective institutions are allowable or not. We have specified certain parameters in paragraphs 16 and 17 of our interim order dated 14.01.2020, which we have already extracted above. The petitioners shall file appropriate statement before the Committee justifying the fee structure for the respective years and on that basis, the Committee shall verify the same and if any exclusion is to be made, the same has to be specifically indicated and thereafter, the fee can be fixed. While fixing the fee, two factors are required to be considered. One is whether the estimate of expenditure specified by the respective institutions are in accordance with the audited balance sheet and in the absence of audited balance sheet, whether the estimation is based on provisional profit and loss account. Secondly, it has to be verified whether any expenditure mentioned by the college has to be excluded from the estimate. If the figures are given based on audited balance sheet, the only aspect to be considered is whether any of the expenditure is to be excluded or not. If the audited balance sheet is not available, provisional profit and loss account could be verified and the expenditure ascertained. Once the exclusion is complete, it may not be difficult to arrive at the fee structure taking into account the number of students. The fee structure of each of the institutions may vary, depending upon the expenditure incurred by them. It may not be possible to have a uniform fee structure for every college. Some colleges may provide more facilities and incur more expenditure. We cannot insist that all the colleges should function only with the basic amenities, faculty, staff etc. However, if a fee structure has been fixed for a college in an academic year, it could have a bearing for fixing the fee structure for future years, unless there is change in circumstances, by way of income and expenditure.

17. While doing so, the Committee shall not have regard to any of the earlier orders passed by them and independent orders may be passed after giving a fair op