Bombay High Court: Colleges Can’t Withhold Original Documents

Mumbai: Colleges and educational institutions enjoy no special lien over original personal documents of students submitted at the time of admission and cannot withhold them, the Bombay High Court said.

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, on August 1, directed various colleges in the state offering MBBS, including Grant Medical College, to return original documents of 76 students.

Arguments made by student's counsel

At the time of admission, the students were made to believe that they would have to serve out a compulsory bond of one year after the super-specialty course completion or pay a penalty of ₹2 crore, argued VM Thorat, the counsel for the students.

Well after they took admission in 2019, they were told that the bond would be for two years, Thorat contended and said had the students known this before they took admission in August 2019, they would not have sought admission in Maharashtra at all.

The students also claimed that the colleges were refusing to return their original documents.

All the students completed a three-year course and when they were to appear for their annual examination, an affidavit was demanded from them asking for willingness to complete the two year period.

HC asked students to fill affidavits last year

The students approached the HC last year. In April 2022, the HC asked the students to fill the affidavits which would be subject to the final outcome of the petitions.

The students joined service in October 2022 and the bond, which would have ended in October 2023, is sought to be extended till October 2024.

The students said they were required to submit 30 documents, including nationality documents, selection copies and mark sheets, at the time of admission to the super-specialty course, adding that they would need the documents in future.

As the colleges refused to return these original documents, the students filed an application in their petition, which was pending final hearing, seeking return of their original documents.

The court noted that these documents will be needed by the students so that they can register themselves with the State Medical Council.

Oct 2017 GR

There is a GR of October 12, 2017, that was amended from time to time increasing the service bond to two years, said Poornima Kantharia, appearing for the Directorate of Medical Education and Research.

It was, therefore, the responsibility of medical students to find every applicable GR and take an informed decision accordingly. During counselling, which is mandatory, all candidates must have been informed or must be deemed or should be presumed to have been informed of the applicability of the GR, argued Kantharia.

Throat countered that it was “thoroughly unreasonable” to expect students attempting to gain admission with all the attendant trauma to spend time trying to get through a government website to find a particular GR. Nothing prevented the government from insisting that the two-year bond be specifically mentioned or that the GR be specifically referenced in the admission documents and information supplied in hard copy, he contended.

Petition kept for hearing on September 14

The HC, while directing immediate return of the documents, said that it will look into the issue of the number of years of service bond subsequently.

The court has kept the petition for hearing on September 14.