Supreme Court on Fee Regulation

The Supreme Court has ruled that a new, lower fee structure set for a dental college cannot be applied to students from previous academic years. The Chhattisgarh Dental College had charged a higher fee to students admitted in 2003-04 and 2004-05. A fee committee later fixed a lower fee of ₹1.25 lakh per year, but only from the 2005-06 session onwards. The High Court had ordered the college to refund the extra fees to the older batches. The Supreme Court overturned this, stating that the new fee structure was not meant to be retrospective. The college is now allowed to recover the refunded amount by encashing the bank guarantees provided by the students.