Delhi High Court issues notice to centre regarding NIFT fee hike petition

Feb 8, 2021 #Delhi High Court #NIFT
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Tanvi Sinha

Delhi High Court sought a response from the Centre regarding NIFT (National Institute for Fashion Technology) students appeals against the fee hike imposed on them, especially in the middle of the Corona Virus Pandemic.

With the two-judge bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, a notice was given to the Ministry of Textiles and NIFT on the subject.

The matter came up before single judge bench of Justice Jayant Nath, who had stated “There are no grounds to warrant any interference by this court. There is no merit in the present petition and the same is dismissed,” earlier in October last year.

The students, represented by Advocates Abhik Chimni and Lakshay Garg had sought to set aside the single judge’s order, which had further opined that the plea was vague and hence could not be accepted and that the fee hike could not be termed arbitrary or oppressive.

The hike in fee refers to the 10% hike for NRI quota students and the 5% hike for non-NRI quota students. According to NIFT’s Academic fee structure for 2019-2020, the fee for NRI students was Rs. 8,43,600 and for non-NRI students- Rs. 1,01,050.

The advocated petitioned that this hike made NRIs pay more than 9 lakh rupees and was arbitrarily and violated the NIFT Act 2006. The lawyers further said that there was no clarity as to if Clause 5(1) of the NIFT Academic Programmes Ordinances 2012 was followed either.

The students’ demands simply include a refund of the fee hike in light of the above information.

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