RGNUL demands full semester fee, gets dragged to court by students

New Delhi: The students of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, or RGNUL, have approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to strike down the decision by the university to levy full fee for the upcoming August-December semester.

The students claim that asking them to pay full fees goes against the basic principles of equity and is discriminatory, barandbench.com reported.

RGNUL on June 27 had asked the students to pay a fee of Rs 1.35 lakh for the upcoming semester. It further said that if the fee was not paid by July 10, a late fee of Rs 1000 per day would be added to the original fee.

High Court strikes down late fee clause

The late fee clause has been struck down by the court, which took up the matter for an urgent hearing on Friday. The High Court has also asked the university to file a response before it. The matter related to the fee will be taken up on July 22, barandbench.com reported.

Why are students protesting?

According to barandbench.com, some of the reasons put forward by students explaining why asking them to pay the full semester fee is unfair and discriminatory are as follows:

1. The institute didn’t conduct regular online classes and as per the schedule announced by it on April 12

2. Considering fee is charged for every activity, when most activities in the campus remain suspended, it is unjustified.

3. Apart from the tuition fee of Rs 55,000, a separate amount of Rs. Rs 41,000 is being charged under various heads like exam fee, moot court fee, and library fees. Now none of these amenities are being used by students as the institute remains closed.

4. Hostel fee being charged, when no student is currently staying there, is another bone of contention. Currently, Rs 15,000 and Rs 17,500 are charged double and single occupancy.

5. A good chunk of fee charged for the previous semester (February -April) remains unutilized.

6. Finally, the students are of the view that the decision was taken without keeping the interests of students and their families in mind, many of whom have been hit hard by the pandemic-induced economic lockdown.

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