Admission prospectus has a force of law: HC
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has reiterated that admission brochure or the prospectus has a force of law which is to be strictly followed by an institute for the process of admissions.
The high court bench of justice GS Sandhawalia upheld an order passed by Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, denying refund of ₹10,000 fee deposited by a student in 2005 for admission into an engineering course at Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. The petitioner was selected in the counselling and allotted a college. He deposited the requisite fee, but later did not join the college and sought refund of the amount.
The commission had held that as per the prospectus issued by the university, the petitioner, a Ludhiana resident, was not entitled for the refund since after getting admission in the first round of counselling, he had not reported to the college and therefore, the initial deposit stood forfeited as per the conditions laid down in the prospectus.
The university had argued that it rejected the claim of refund on account of the fact that the said clause was only meant to dissuade the students to seek admission in more than one institution thereby wasting seats depriving other students from admission. dismissing the appeal, the bench said that university cannot be held liable for any deficiency in service and the petitioner was not entitled for refund as case for the same was not made out as per the conditions of prospectus.
The HC stated that time and again it had been held by courts that admission brochure or the prospectus carried a force of law which was to be strictly followed.