High court stay on Arbitrary increase in BAMS fees in private medical colleges

NAINITAL: A government order arbitrarily increasing the fee of the five year Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), course in private medical colleges of Uttarakhand met with a High Court stay on Wednesday. The High Court decision has brought the much needed relief to students of the state.

The order issued in October had doubled the BAMS fee, leaving students in a state of flux. A notice was issued to them, in this regard, in November this year.

The students reacted by approaching the court stating their shock at the arbitrary increase in fee.

The High Court comprising of a single bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, after issuing a stay asked the state government and private medical colleges to furnish their replies.

"The respondents are restrained from taking enhanced fees from the petitioners in terms of the notice/order dated November 18," the order read.

The counsel for the petitioners, Vinod Tiwari told the TOI,"The private medical colleges were ordered to increase the BAMS fees from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.15 lakh, which was illegal and arbitrary. Thankfully, the honourable court understood our concern and stayed the increment."

"The petition also said that the students were given the fee structure for the five years course at the beginning of the session in 2015. The increment has rendered the students incapable of paying such a huge amount," the lawyer said.

The Uttarakhand BAMS course is being offered by six private medical colleges at present. The students had also submitted a representation with Governor, KK Paul, on December 5, after the state government announced the fee hike.