Karnataka High Court asks Karnataka State Law University to respond to plea alleging illegal fee hike

The Karnataka High Court on August 19 sought the response of the Karnataka State Law University (KSLU) to a petition claiming that students were being charged excessive admission fees illegally for the 2025-2026 academic year [Priyanka N v. KSLU].

The Bench of Justice R Devadas has issued notice in the matter to KSLU's Vice Chancellor and Registrar, on a petition filed by a final-year three-year LLB student from the BMS Law College, Bengaluru, which is affiliated with KSLU.

The petition before the Court challenges a circular issued in July this year, which hiked the fees charged from KSLU students under various heads.

The petition stated that the University has increased the fee amount by 128.8 per cent for first year students from the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) category. It added that this fee hike stands at 204.71 per cent for second and third-year law students from the SC/ST category.

During Tuesday's hearing of the matter, Advocate H Pavana Chandra Shetty appeared for the petitioner-student. Advocate Shetty argued that neither the Academic Council nor the Vice-Chancellor of KSLU have the power to hike fees in this manner.

The counsel also mentioned that as per Section 34 of the Karnataka State Law University Act, 2009, neither the academic council nor the vice-chancellor has any statutory power to fix, collect or revise fees. Levying such fees without providing any service or benefit to the students is an illegal act and amounts to abuse of power, the petitioner argued.

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.

After hearing arguments, the Court issued notice to KSLU and posted the matter for hearing on August 29.