A division bench of High Court has set aside its single judge verdict which had upheld a communication of J&K’s Women’s Development Corporation (WDC) whereby a student was asked to refund Rs 6 lakh which was released in her favour as first installment of her Education Loan for pursuing MBBS course in Bangladesh.
The WDC had sanctioned a loan of 30 lakh in favour of the student under National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) for pursing MBBS course in the Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh after she had approached the Corporation in 2018.
After grant of admission the first installment of fee was to be deposited with the College by or before 20 November 2018, but installment of loan was delayed by the Corporation and was only transferred in favour of the Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh on 24 February, 2019.
By then the student’s admission was cancelled by the Community Based Medical College due to non-receipt of first installment of fee amount within time. In the face of her career being at stake, the concerned consultants managed to get her admission in other college – Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College, Bangladesh. Subsequently upon request of the Consultants, the first installment of fee was transferred by the Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh to Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College, Bangladesh.
The WDC sought refund of the first installment saying the amount was transferred from one College to another without intimation to it. This action of the Corporation was challenged by the student in her one writ petition. The Corporation did not release the second installment of the Loan in favour of Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College where she was undergoing her five year MBBS Course and was in second year which prompted her to file another petition.
As both these petitions were dismissed by the single judge, the student challenged the single bench verdict.
The division bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Vinod Chatterji Koul while setting aside the single bench judgment said: “No fault can be attributed towards (her) inasmuch as she, on her part, had completed all the formalities and it was only because of the fact that the first installment of the fee was not received by the College on time that (her) admission was cancelled”.
The division bench held that faced with this situation the student was also well within her right to seek admission in some new College upon cancellation of her admission in the Community Based Medical College so that her career was saved. “Had she not adopted this course of action by taking admission in the Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College the same would have resulted in serious prejudice to her educational rights, thereby defeating the very object of the Scheme”.
The corporation, the court said, upon fulfilment of all the terms and conditions on the student, was supposed to take further course of action as mandated in terms of the Scheme with due dispatch, which it did not resulting, firstly, in delay in release of first installment of the fee in favour of the College concerned and, secondly, cancellation of the student’s admission. Consequently, the court said, the student was compelled to take admission in the Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College,
Bangladesh for pursuing her 5-year MBBS course.
“The Corporation could neither have demanded back the first installment of the loan amount nor could it have withheld the subsequent installments of the loan amount as per the Scheme,” the DB said.
While quashing the Corporation’s communication seeking refund of released amount of Rs 6 lakh from her, the court directed Corporation to release the remaining installments of the sanctioned loan amount under ‘Education Loan Scheme’ of the NMDFC in favour of the student for completion of her 5-year MBBS Course through Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College.