The Supreme Court accepted the “legitimate right” of a medical student to shift from a private college to a government college, while exempting her from complying with a Kerala government rule which required such transfers to pay Rs.10 lakh in “liquidated damages.”
A Bench of Justice Gopala Gowda and Justice Rohinton Nariman allowed Amitha Saddar, a native of Kollam district, to shift to a government college without paying Rs.10 lakh in damages to the self-financing college she first got admission.
The court acknowledged the arguments of her counsel that she was eligible for admission to a government college owing to her high rank and she should not be made to suffer for her decision to shift.
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Mr. Banerjee had submitted that the rule imposing damages was “arbitrary.”
In her petition, Ms. Saddar said she was forced to shell out over Rs.2 lakh as total annual fee, while a government college would only cost her over Rs.20,000 a year.
“The fundamental right of a candidate to get admission to the college of his/her choice cannot be scuttled by the respondent (State) by imposing such onerous conditions contrary to the basic tenets of law,” the petition said.
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The rule was part of a note annexed to a notification issued on September 10, 2014, by the exam commissioner's office during the third phase allotment to MBBS.