SPPU slashes ILS Law College "other fees" for 2022-25 by around 90%

Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has fixed ILS Law College's "other activities fees" for academic sessions 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 at ₹2,714 ₹4,031 and ₹3,342 respectively.

The college actually charged ₹36,840 under this head in 2022-23 and ₹36,790 in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, making the newly fixed amounts 93%, 89% and 91% lower for the respective years.

The amounts were recommended by SPPU's Fee Fixation Committee (FFC) and approved by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) on behalf of the Academic Council. They cover heads such as moot court, seminar, cultural activities, training and placement, and library and e-learning resources, over and above those already fixed by SPPU in 2020.

ILS Law College had filed a proposal seeking approval for "other activities fees" charged from 2022-25 in February 2024. It remained undecided for over 2 years.

It was decided following a Bombay High Court direction that came in ILS' challenge to SPPU's decision to reduce "other activities fees" for 2026-27 by 88%. In the same order, the Court directed ILS to file a fresh proposal for its 2026-27 fees within 2 weeks, with SPPU to decide that within 4 weeks of receiving it.

The direction came after the Court found that SPPU had used this same, still-pending 2022-25 proposal to fix ILS' fees for 2026-27, although the College had never filed a proposal for 2026-27.

The FFC's initial recommended structure for 2026-27 had cut ILS's "other activities fees" from ₹36,460 to ₹4,340 per student. Several heads were brought to nil while others were cut sharply. Factoring in tuition, the College's total annual fee would fall 77% from ₹41,635 in 2024-25 to about ₹9,515.

The Bombay High Court stayed this figure on June 29 not on merits but because ILS' only proposal on record, filed in February 2024, covered 2022-23 to 2024-25 and not 2026-27.