Nagpur: Four students moved Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Thursday after they were allotted seats at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences (NKPSIMS) under Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Quota, where a whopping fee of Rs34 lakh/year is charged.Filing a plea (WP No 5209/2018) through counsel Sanjay Brahme, the petitioners claimed that though they never opted for the NRI quota, the State Common Entrance Test Cell had admitted them under that quota. They prayed for quashing the allotment list where they were granted seats under the NRI quota and directives to the respondents to admit them in state quota in same or any other college. They also insisted on staying the entire admissions process of undergraduate MBBS and BDS seats.A division bench comprising justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Zaka Haq issued notices to the respondents, including Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), asking them to reply by Monday. State Medical Education Department secretary, commissionerate of State Common Entrance Test Cell and NKPSIMS principal are other respondents.Petitioners Nidhi Pantawane, Vaishnavi Jirafe, Riya Meshram and Gayatri Bandhirkar contended that the fees in medical colleges for NRI seat is Rs34 lakh/year irrespective of their categories. However, the fees for OBC category is Rs4.84 lakh in semi-government colleges and Rs19,000 in government-run ones. For SC/ST students the fees are Rs19,000 in all colleges. They claimed that they were neither informed not issued any notice before allotting the seats under NRI quota.During the first round of allotment, only Meshram was admitted to the Swargiya Dadasaheb Kalmegh Smruti Dental College. In the second round on August 12, all four petitioners were allotted seats under the NRI Quota at the NKPSIMS, following which they knocked the judiciary’s doors.All of them claim to have cleared the class XII exams and scored decent marks in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Later, they completed the process of getting admission by filling up online forms and depositing requisite fee, where they opted seats under state quota. They argued that income of their parents is well below Rs1 lakh and they can’t afford exorbitant fees under the NRI quota.(With inputs from Ritika Gupta)

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