Udaipur : Hearing on a civil writ petition Siddarth Pillai & ors Vs State of Rajasthan & ors, filed by the BALLB-5yr course students of the Mohanlal Sukhadia University’s Law College, a single bench headed by Justice Vijay Bishnoi, at its principle seat at High Court, Jodhpur on Monday, ordered to issue notices to the Chief Secretary and the Registrar (MLSU) seeking response over a demand for fees waiver due to the suspension of classroom teaching since March, this year.
In the writ, the petitioners’ advocate Sajjan Singh Rathore apprised the court that the odd semester exam of academic year (2019-2020) concluded in February this year and since March, the subsequent sessions are being held through the online mode to avert the risk of pandemic. The petitioner students are only getting online lectures while other campus activities and facilities like library, reading room, seminars, extension lectures, moot courts, legal aide camps, sports or cultural activities have been on hold since the suspension of classroom teaching in March.
The petitioners, who are enrolled under the self finance course, claimed the university is charging them for facilities and services they have not utilized the entire year. Students have to pay fees under various heads like cycle stand, development, e-journals and software, campus cleaning, entertainment fees etc which is unjustifiable. The right to impart education of the university charging the petitioners for services that could never be provided is a violation and an abrogation of the Fundamental Rights of the petitioners under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petitioners also objected to the university acting as a profit making institution by charging e-suvidha fees of 250 rupees being from students filling online examination forms every year. The students prayed the court to direct the varsity to waive the amount of the fees charged under different heads for the Academic Year 2020-21, and allow only the collection/charging of discounted tuition fees.