Madras HC Dismisses Woman's Plea Seeking Refund Of College Fees After Discontinuing Her Course

The Madras High Court has dismissed a woman's plea seeking refund of college fees who discontinued her course after she was caught red-handed by Invigilators of the University for certain malpractice during the examination.

The bench of Justice S.M. Subramaniam observed that "After completion of one year of engineering course, the petitioner is not entitled for the refund and furthermore, she discontinued the course on account of certain malpractice."

In this case, the woman-petitioner had joined the Vel High Tech Sri Rangarajan Sakunthala Engineering College in the year 2008 and completed her 1st year in Electronic and Communication Engineering course.

She attended the Anna University examination. At the time of entering the examination hall, she was in possession of money purse in which she had kept chits of the paper with regard to the subject matter of the examination for easy reference and forgot to remove the same from the purse because of the examination tension.

Her grievance was that her explanation was not accepted and thereafter she discontinued the course.

Advocate G.Thangavel appeared for the woman-petitioner whereas Government Advocate C. Jaya Prakash appeared for the Director of Technical Education. Advocate L.P. Shanmugasundaran appeared for Anna University.

The Court observed the notification by the Education Department wherein it has been ordered that the tuition fee and special fee shall not be refunded to the students who leave the Engineering Colleges after two months from the date of their joining.

Thus the Court noted thus "When it is categorically ruled that the students who left the Engineering Colleges after two months from the date of their joining, they are not entitled to get refund of fees. Therefore, the petitioner cannot claim the refund of fee."

The Court further observed that the woman-petitioner was not able to establish that even as per the prospectus that she is entitled for a refund of the fees.

Therefore the Court held that after completion of one year of engineering course, the petitioner is not entitled for a refund.

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed.

Cause Title- M. Priyadarshini v. The Principal Secretary/ Commissioner, Director of Technical Education & Ors.

Click here to read/download the Order