> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://newsanek.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Uttarakhand HC Quashes Retrospective Fee Hike for BAMS Students - URL: https://newsanek.com/uttarakhand-hc-quashes-retrospective-bams-fee-hike/ - Published: 2026-11-03T15:55:10.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T15:55:10.000Z - Description: The Uttarakhand High Court ruled that higher tuition fees cannot be applied to BAMS students admitted in 2017–18 and 2018–19, allowing eleven petitions. - Author: Kumar Ujjwal - Tags: India, Uttarakhand, #state-uttarakhand, #starter The Uttarakhand High Court has ruled that a higher tuition fee cannot be applied retrospectively to students of the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (B.A.M.S.) course in private Ayurvedic colleges. According to Tax Guru, the court allowed a batch of eleven writ petitions in the case Bindiya Khatri and Others vs State of Uttarakhand and Others. The petitions were filed by students admitted in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 academic sessions. ### Key points - The High Court quashed the Appellate Authority's order of 31 January 2020 to the extent it allowed a retrospective fee increase for students admitted in 2017–18 and 2018–19. - The court said the Fee Regulatory Committee's decision of 29 April 2019 applies only prospectively. - Section 4(14) of the 2006 Act bars revision of fees for a batch of students until their course is completed. - Colleges must issue no-objection certificates to the petitioners once admissible fees are paid, and the university must release their certificates without delay. ## What the dispute was about The students challenged the Appellate Authority's order, which had extended the revised fee structure fixed by the Fee Regulatory Committee on 29 April 2019 to earlier academic sessions. They argued that fee fixation under the Uttarakhand Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006, can work only from a future date. In their view, the fee applicable at the time of admission cannot be raised during the course. The petitioners gave a background of the fee history. The Committee had fixed the tuition fee at ₹80,500 in 2007\. In October 2015, the State Government issued an order raising the B.A.M.S. fee to ₹2,15,000 without the Committee's determination. The High Court set that order aside on 9 July 2018\. The Committee then met on 29 April 2019 and provisionally fixed fees for the sessions 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22\. The provisional B.A.M.S. fee was ₹2.15 lakh a year. Fees for B.H.M.S. and M.D./M.S. (Ayurved) were set at ₹1.10 lakh and ₹3.15 lakh respectively. The colleges defended the Appellate Authority's decision. They said the fee structure had stayed unchanged for a long time and that they were finding it hard to meet their expenses. ## What the court held The court examined Sections 4(12), 4(13), 4(14) and 5(2) of the 2006 Act. It observed that only the Fee Regulatory Committee can determine fees for unaided private professional institutions. Section 4(14) clearly says that the fee fixed for students admitted in a given academic year cannot be revised until they finish the course. As a result, neither a college management nor the State Government can raise tuition fees on its own, and the Appellate Authority cannot apply a later fee decision to earlier admissions. The court found the Appellate Authority's order to be against Section 4(14) and quashed it to the extent described above. The Supreme Court judgment in Islamic Academy of Education vs State of Karnataka, (2003) 6 SCC 697, was referred to in the context of legal regulation of fees charged by private professional institutions. ## Why it matters The ruling gives clarity to students in private professional colleges that the fee fixed at the time of admission stays in place for their course. It also confirms that fee decisions rest with the statutory Committee. The court directed the colleges to issue no-objection certificates to the petitioners on payment of the admissible fees, and the university to release their educational certificates without further delay. --- ### Source - [Tax Guru: Retrospective Fee Hike for BAMS Students Invalid: Uttarakhand HC](https://taxguru.in/corporate-law/retrospective-fee-hike-bams-students-invalid-uttarakhand-hc.html?ref=newsanek.com)