HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has directed a BHMS college to refund Rs 3.32 lakh paid by a student towards tuition fees after her admission was cancelled on the ground that she had scored fewer marks in NEET than the prescribed eligibility criteria.
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi passed the order on a writ petition filed by Done Shabari Priya, who had been allotted a management quota seat in the college by Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) through an allotment letter dated October 27, 2025.
The petitioner paid Rs 3.32 lakh towards tuition fees and was permitted to join the course. However, KNRUHS cancelled her admission on January 23, 2026, stating that she had secured 128 marks in NEET against the required 144.
Counsel for the petitioner argued that the seat had been allotted by the university itself and that, having acted on the allotment and paid the entire tuition fee, she should not suffer financially because of any error by the authorities.
The university, college and government authorities did not dispute the allotment or subsequent cancellation and left the matter to the court’s discretion.
The court observed that once the petitioner had been allotted the seat and permitted to take admission pursuant to the university’s allotment, she ought not to be deprived of the amount paid by her. Retaining the fee for a seat she was ultimately not permitted to continue would result in unjust enrichment of the institution, it held.
Without expressing any opinion on the validity of the admission cancellation, the court directed the college to refund the entire Rs 3.32 lakh within six weeks.