‘Ensure colleges don’t collect appln fee from SC, ST students’

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy issued the direction after perusing a status report filed by the government that it has been discovered that there was illegal collection of additional fees from a number of persons as apprehended by the petitioner and appropriate steps have been taken. 

“The matter will appear three weeks hence. A further report should be filed by the State, with a copy forwarded to advocate for the petitioner, confirming that the persons from whom excess fees were obtained have been refunded the amount and that measures have been put in place to ensure that such practice is not indulged in, in the future.” 

The issue pertains to the collection of application fee from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students despite orders barring collecting the fee from them. The plea claimed that there were two Government Orders stating that application fees should not be collected from aspirants from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.