In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court judgment striking down a Government Order that directed self-financing medical colleges to remit a portion of Non-Resident Indian (NRI) student fees as a corpus fund to subsidize education for Below Poverty Line students. The Court held the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee lacked power to create such a corpus fund without statutory authority. While encouraging subsidization of weaker students through higher NRI fees, the Court found this required legislative action, not regulatory direction. The Court allowed colleges to retain corpus fund amounts already collected, but mandated they use these funds substantially to subsidize BPL student fees. NRI students received no refunds, while BPL students overpaying received refund or set-off rights within three months."
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