Aurangabad, April 30:
The Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice S D Kulkarni has today stayed the recovery of educational fees (which is already waived off) from a petitioner Aniket Kothawale. The bench also made it clear not to obstruct the internship certificate for want of fees.
Aniket is a native of Osmanabad and his father was a high school teacher. As per the GR of dated August 19, 1995, the education from standard first to post-graduation courses is free of cost for the wards of teaching and non-teaching staff of granted secondary and higher secondary schools in Maharashtra. Aniket was not aware of this GR, as a result, he paid full fees while taking admission in Vilasrao Deshmukh Medical College (Latur) for the first year in the MBBS course. Later on, from the second year till the final year, he got the benefit of the above GR. He completed his MBBS course in 2020 and then completed his internship in Government Medical College, Aurangabad in 2021.
Meanwhile, the government took a new decision by revising the 1995's GR on March 16, 2021. The word free of cost (Ni Shulk) has been replaced with concessional charges (Vihit Darane). As per the new policy, the students are granted a concession of Rs 6,000 per year. Referring to the new policy, the petitioner was informed that the internship certificate will be issued to him only after he clears the old dues (fees).
Adv Siddheshwar Thombre representing Aniket brought into the notice of the High Court that the petitioner had already completed his course and the internship period. Hence, the government's new order could not be implemented with retrospective effect. Also, the benefits offered to the petitioner as per the old GR could not be recovered from him. The new order is not applicable to him. Hence, the High Court should order to issue the internship certificate immediately.
The lawyer also informed the bench that April 30 is the last date to submit the internship certificate and the bond to the state government for getting an appointment as a doctor.