Overview
- The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, and declined to disturb a Rajasthan High Court order that had upheld the fee structure for private medical colleges.
- The two-judge bench led by Justice B. V. Nagarathna said private medical colleges are self-financing institutions and cannot be compelled to charge fees at government-college rates because doing so could threaten their viability.
- The petitioner, Harshvardhan Singh, challenged being allotted a general seat despite holding an EWS certificate and argued that reported tuition of about Rs 18.9 lakh to Rs 25 lakh a year makes EWS access meaningless for families below the Rs 8 lakh income ceiling.
- The court told students who cannot afford private fees to seek scholarships, subsidies or government-college seats, and it noted that the National Medical Commission’s February 3, 2022 office memorandum on government-rate fees for 50% of private seats was not adopted by Rajasthan.
- The apex court kept the broader constitutional and regulatory questions on EWS affordability and fee concessions open for future cases and a separate challenge to the NMC memorandum remains pending before the Supreme Court.