The Supreme Court has refused to hear a plea by a student seeking a reduction in the exorbitant fees charged by a private medical college in India.
The bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Joymala Bagchi stated that the fees in private colleges cannot be compared to government colleges, and that individuals who are unable to pay should seek scholarships or subsidies.
The student, Harshvardhan Singh, had secured 84.46 percentile in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2025 and was allotted a seat under the general category at a private medical college with a tuition fee of ₹18.9 lakh.
The court rejected the plea, citing the difference between government and private colleges, with the latter being self-financing institutions.
The bench also referred to its judgment in TMA Pai (2002) which banned private colleges from charging capitation fees, but allowed self-financing institutions to charge general college fees.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has recommended that 50% of the seats in private medical colleges should be at par with the fee in government medical colleges, but this is not mandatory.
The high court had stated that there was no illegality in the fee charged by the private university as it was approved by the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) of Rajasthan.
