The Supreme Court is hearing a dispute over the Tamil Nadu Government’s authority to fix fees for private medical universities, with the State seeking to vacate an interim stay granted by the Court on the first date of hearing.
The university has challenged the State Fee Fixation Committee’s decision prescribing fees for its medical courses, contending that the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, empowers private universities to determine their own fee structure through their statutory framework.
Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan, appearing for the university, argued that the 2019 Act specifically recognises the university’s power to prescribe and collect fees. Relying on Supreme Court decisions concerning the autonomy of unaided private educational institutions, he submitted that institutions must have reasonable freedom to determine fees based on infrastructure, faculty salaries, facilities and future expansion, subject to restrictions against profiteering and capitation fees.
He also argued that the university’s statutory framework is distinct from the earlier legislation governing capitation fees and that the State cannot impose a rigid fee structure contrary to the autonomy conferred by the 2019 Act.
Opposing the university’s challenge, Sr Adv Mukul Rohatgi and Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the State, relied on the existing fee-fixation framework and pointed out that the university’s admission prospectus for the 2026–2027 academic year reflected the fees prescribed by the State committee.
The dispute concerns the committee’s prescribed annual tuition fees of ₹5.40 lakh for the government quota and ₹16.20 lakh for the management quota, against the higher amounts proposed by the university. The university submitted that it had subsequently reduced its proposed fees to ₹13.4 lakh and ₹22.3 lakh, respectively.
The State’s application to vacate the interim stay remains to be considered. The matter is part heard and will continue tomorrow. The Court has granted time to Sr Adv Gopal Shankaranarayanan to conclude his arguments.
The petition has been filed by AoR Pragya Parijat Singh.