Supreme Court appoints Salman Kurshid to head panel to suggest measures to end this menace

With a view to curbing the menace of charging very high capitation fee by medical and engineering colleges for admission, the Supreme Court has appointed former Union Law Minister Salman Kurshid to suggest measures for putting an end to this practice.

A Bench of Justices Ibrahim Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh, in its order passed on a batch of cases, said the issue of capitation fee was already covered by the decision in the 11 judge bench in TMA Pai Foundation and Islamic Academy cases.

It said “consistently in all these decisions, there were specific directions that charging of capitation fee cannot be permitted even by private unaided institutions imparting education in medical as well as engineering Courses. However, we take judicial notice of the hard reality that charging of very high capitation fee is very much prevalent in spite of the said specific observations/directions issued by this Court.”

Referring to the submission made on behalf of Karnataka that there was legislation in the State to curb this practice, the bench said “We are not sure whether in spite of the said legislation, the said practice could be effectively curbed. We are, therefore, of the view that we should get appropriate support to find out whether this practice can be put an end to by getting a detailed report based on an in-depth study.”

The bench appointed Mr. Salman Khurshid, senior advocate to act as amicus curiae to render assistance by making a detailed analysis of this problem and suggest an appropriate mechanism by which the charging of capitation fee can be effectively stopped.”

The Bench directed the Chief Secretaries of the States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to instruct the authorities to furnish whatever information required by Mr. Khurshid such as any complaint received as regards charging of capitation fee apart from any other data available on this aspect.

“It is also open to Mr. Salman Khurshid to seek for any other data in connection with the issue of capitation fee.” The Bench while impleading the Medical and Dental Councils of India seeking their response granted four weeks for panel to submit its report to the court.