The Karnataka High Court recently quashed a circular issued by the Karnataka State Law University (KSLU) in July, which hiked the fee payable by students for the 2025-2026 academic year [Pranava KN v. KSLU and connected matters].
The Bench of Justice R Devadas passed the ruling after finding that there were no statutes or regulations that guided the introduction of such a circular.
The Court noted that while the University is empowered to collect fees, it must do so through proper statutes or regulations.
Since no such legal framework existed, the fee hike could not be justified, the Court concluded.
"There being no such statutes providing for levy and collection of fees, the impugned Circular is not valid," the order said.
The Court also directed the university to refund the excess fee collected from students within two months of the KSLU receiving a certified copy of the order.
"The excess fee collected by the respondentUniversity, having regard to the immediately previous Circular, shall be refunded to all the students, irrespective of whether such students are parties to these proceedings or not." it said.
The ruling was passed on a batch of petitions by law students affected by the fee hike, including a final-year three-year LLB student and students from the BMS Law College, Bengaluru, which is affiliated with KSLU.
They challenged a university circular issued in July, which hiked the fees charged from KSLU students under various heads.
Among other arguments, they pointed out that the fee charged from students was hiked by over 128% for first-year Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe students and by 204% for second and third-year students.
It was further submitted that the university has been operating like a profit-making business and remains consistently in surplus, resulting in the commercialization of education.
Their counsel, Senior Advocate KG Raghavan, added that there was nothing to show that any additional services or amenities would be provided to the students to justify the fee hike.
The KSLU countered that the fee revision was validly approved by the Academic Council in its 37th meeting and later by the Vice-Chancellor. They contended that under the KSLU Act, 2009, the Academic Council and Syndicate have the power to fix and collect fees, and that students had not objected to the earlier fee structure, implying acceptance of the University’s authority to levy such charges.
The Court acknowledged that the university did have the authority to determine what fees should be collected. However, it added that any hike in fees should be under statutes or regulations for the same, which did not exist in this case.
It, therefore, ruled in the students' favor and quashed the fee hike.
Advocates Sarita Kulkarni and Girish Kumar appeared on behalf of the KSLU and its Registrar.
[Read Order]