Mumbai: The apex court on Monday turned down the petition of SIES Graduate School of Technology, Nerul, regarding the demand of additional fees from the students who took admission into the college before the TMA Pai judgement in 2002.

It must be noted that the engineering college gave admission to these students on the basis of merit quota. The fee for the Merit quota students was lower than the paid seats. However, after the TMA Pai judgment (which ruled against any government quota in unaided colleges), the engineering college hiked their fee.

The students protested against the order of the college and moved to Bombay High court. The High court asked the management to refund excess fees collected and also pay back the amount incurred in litigation by the students. The college challenged the order in the Supreme Court and withheld the marksheets of the students till they paid their fee arrears.