In a Special Leave Petition filed before the Supreme Court of India to challenge a final judgment and order dated 12-12-2025 passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a bench comprised of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma stayed the operation of the impugned order till the next date of hearing.
A petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to quash the action of a private unaided college (respondent 3) affiliated with Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana (respondent 2), whereby tuition fee was charged for the ‘internship period’.
The petitioners in the said petition asserted that in the fifth year of their course, the college issued a notice requiring students to deposit half of the tuition fee. It was assumed that this was done because tuition fees could not be charged for the tenth semester, i.e., the six-month internship period in the final year, when no study or tuition was to be imparted. However, another notice was subsequently issued demanding payment of the tuition fee for the remaining six months.
The High Court opined that permitting the college to charge tuition fees during the internship period would be contrary to the intent and objective of the governing VCI Regulations and would render the purpose of the internship allowance a farce. Thus, the college was directed to refund the amount charged from the petitioners during the internship period within three months.
Aggrieved, the Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences filed the present SLP against the impugned order. By the present order, the Supreme Court issued notice and stayed the operation of the impugned order till the next date of hearing.
Appearances:
For Petitioners – Mr. Devadatt Kamar (Sr. Adv), Mr. Nipun Arora, Ms. Akriti Chaubey (AOR), Mr. Revanta Solanki, Mr. Himanshu Malik, Mr. Lokinder Singh Phougat, Mr. Darshan Sejwal
For Respondents – None
