Bombay HC rejects ILS Law College plea to charge existing fees pending challenge to 77% fee reduction

The Bombay High Court on Thursday declined Indian Law Society's (ILS) Law College's interim plea to display its existing "other fees" of roughly ₹37,000 during the ongoing Common Entrance Test (CET) admissions process for the academic year 2026-27. [Indian Law Society and Anr v. State of Maharashtra and Ors]

A Division Bench of Justices RI Chagla and Farhan Dubash declined to pass any such order and listed the writ petition for further hearing on June 29.

The Bench indicated that instead, the College could inform the CET Cell that Savitribai Phule Pune University's (SPPU) Fee Fixation Committee (FFC) has fixed the "other fees" at ₹4,340 and that if its challenge succeeds, the College will seek to recover the balance from students.

14 students of the College, represented by Advocate Pradnya Talekar, have filed an intervention application seeking to be impleaded as respondents. According to their plea, any order passed in the petition would directly affect their financial obligations.

ILS and ILS Law College have filed a writ petition challenging SPPU's decision to fix other fees for its LL.B. and B.A.LL.B. programmes at ₹4,340 for the academic year 2026-27. This amounts to a reduction of approximately 88% in the "other fees" component and about 77% in the overall fee structure. As per the petitioners, the fee fixed by the FFC is "abysmally low" and threatens the institution's existence.