MBBS students from the 2019 batch at the Krishna Mohan (KM) Medical College & Hospital, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh have been alleging that the college’s administration had been collecting higher fees from students than authorised. These accusations cropped up after the college announced a 35 per cent hike in tuition fees from Rs 8.5 lakh per annum to Rs 11.5 lakh per annum overnight on February 15.
Following this announcement, students from the 2019 batch, to whom this hike is directed, were asked to pay the outstanding fees upfront.
A few students challenged this hike on January 3, 2025, in the Allahabad High Court. Following this, a single-judge bench, including Justice Saral Srivastava, overturned the hike and restrained the college from raising the petitioners' fees even further.
This verdict came as a relief to the students, who alleged being harassed by the college for challenging the fee hike.
“We were being denied entry into our college for our internship. The biometric has been disabled for us, and we weren’t able to punch in,” one of the petitioners told EdexLive, on the condition of anonymity.
When it began
According to the student, the issue began when the college refused to pay them the mandated internship stipend of Rs 12,000 in 2024. When the students demanded that they be paid, the college wrote to the Directorate General of Medical Education & Training, UP (DGME UP) on July 30, 2024, seeking permission to have its fees increased from Rs 8.5 lakh per annum to Rs 11.3 lakh, to pay them their stipends.
It is worth noting that the college’s tuition fees in 2016-17, when it was established, was Rs 11.3 lakh per annum. However, the college was debarred for two years (2017-2018, 2018-2019) after certain discrepancies and compliance issues were spotted following an inspection.
When the college was able to admit batches from the 2019-2020 academic year, its fees was already set to be Rs 8.5 lakh per annum through an older order passed by the UP government in 2017. However, as the college had been debarred for two years, it was prevented from hiking its fees in the middle of the academic session.
The college also filed a writ petition in 2019 challenging the lowered fee structure at the Allahabad High Court, but withdrew it later.
Following the college’s appeal to the DGME, the matter was transferred to the Appellate Authority under the UP Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission & Fixation of Fee) Act, 2013 in September 2024.
In the meanwhile, the students approached Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Former Minister for Energy of UP Shrikant Sharma with the matter of their stipends, after which he wrote to the DGME to look into the matter. On August 8, 2024, the DGME wrote to the college’s Chairman, Kishan Singh Chaudhary, directing him to issue stipends to the students.
“We were paid stipends after that letter was issued, but we never received the full amount. The college only paid us Rs 6,000, and irregularly,” the student said.
The Appellate Authority’s decision, and legal action from students
In its appeal to the Appellate Authority, the college claimed that the 2017 notice imposed an interim fee structure for them, and they were not given a chance to appeal for the increase in fees after they resumed academic operations in 2019.
Thus, the Appellate Authority, in its judgement delivered on October 24, 2024 (whose copy EdexLive has access to), concluded that the current fee of the college lacked merit, and was implemented by the Fee Regulatory Committee without any “basis or sound reason”. It asked the committee to analyse the balance sheets of the college and revise its fees.
Meanwhile, students of the college of pausing the compulsory internships on account of uncleared tuition fees. “Despite paying Rs 8.5 lakh, the college demanded that we pay an additional fee of Rs 12.6 lakh, claiming them to be uncleared dues after the fees were increased,” the student said. He added that it was at this point that the college was preventing the students from marking their biometric attendance.
On December 12, 2024, the students wrote to the DGME, bringing the Director General's attention to the lack of updates on the internships for students who cleared their MBBS final exams on November 26, 2024, the non-payment of stipends to students already in their internships, and the college's harassment of the students regarding the fees.
The letter asked the DGME to take these issues into cognisance and provide them with relief.
In addition, the students also filed a petition at the Allahabad High Court on January 3, 2025, challenging the fee hike.
When the students’ petition was taken up at the Allahabad High Court, the bench issued a stay on any increase in the college’s fees by the Fee Fixation Committee on January 23, 2025, and the case was disposed of the next day, with the bench reserving its judgement.
However, the DGME issued a circular on February 2, 2025 (accessed by EdexLive), announcing that the college’s fees have been increased to Rs 11.5 lakh by the Fee Fixation Committee — much to the students’ chagrin. To make matters worse, the college issued a circular on February 15, demanding that they clear the outstanding fees with immediate effect, and continue to disable their biometric attendance.
Relief from the court
In this dire situation, the Allahabad High Court issued its final judgement on the matter yesterday, February 20. Criticising the college for “abusing the process of the court” for approaching the Appellate Authority while not disclosing the withdrawn writ petition, the bench said that its appeal to have its fees increased was liable for dismissal on these grounds alone.
Further, the court pointed out that the students were not given a hearing while the decision to raise the fees was deliberated upon despite being affected by it directly, making it a violation of the principles of natural justice. It added that many students did not sign any undertaking in favour of the fee hike either, and those who signed one did so out of duress, which meant enforcing a uniform increase was unfair.
Therefore, the court upheld the fee structure of Rs 8.5 lakh, as per the 2017 government order, and quashed the Appellate Authority’s judgement. It further declared that no student was liable to pay any enhanced fees beyond the government-fixed amount.
Corruption behind the college’s action, allege students
Reflecting on the fee hike and their ordeal in reversing it, the student said that the college charges hefty fees in addition to the already exorbitant tuition fees.
“We have three levels of hostel fees — Rs 1.5 lakh for a triple-occupancy room with a ceiling fan, Rs 2.5 lakh for a room with an air cooler, and Rs 3.5 lakh for a room with an air conditioner. In addition, we also pay a returnable security deposit of Rs 3 lakh and mess fees of Rs 1.6 lakh. How are we supposed to pay more tuition fees while the college is already charging us so much?”, he asked.
The college is also notorious for charging arbitrary and hefty penalty fees for offences. According to a report by Shiksha from 2023, these fees include Rs 10,000 for roaming in the night, Rs 50,000 for being absent for a theory class, and Rs 1 lakh for roaming outside college.
The student further remarked, “The college wants to extort more money from its students, while already collecting nearly Rs 83 crore through fees alone. But the facilities at the college do not justify the fees at all — we often lack basic equipment such as sanitisers, have inadequate infrastructure, and don’t have proper staff.”
KM College is one of the only private colleges in Mathura that charges more fees than what was prescribed by the government, the student revealed.
Recently, the college drew the ire of the medical community in India for directing its students to attend to 100 patients in 15 days, as part of an outreach programme. The student said that the drive was just to boost patient enrollment numbers before inspections and that the college didn’t want to “invest money” in Public Relations programmes to attract more patients.
Further, he added that the chairman of the college, Kishan Singh Chaudhary threatened the students for going against him. “He told us that he would extend our internship periods and make sure that we wouldn’t get our registration to practise,” he alleged.
Reacting to the situation, De Bhanu Kumar, National Social Media Secretary of the United Doctors’ Front (UDF) said, “These youngsters have cleared a tough entrance exam and admissions process and entered medicine to help people, and fix a broken healthcare system. However, private colleges are not providing them with an environment conducive to learning.”
He adds that the stress of students in private medical colleges has only increased over the years due to a lack of support system, increased pressure, and corruption.
Despite victory at the court, the students are yet to be allowed to resume their internship. “We submitted a representation to the District Magistrate of Mathura, explaining our situation. Currently, we are waiting for his response,” the student said, detailing their next course of action.
