Certificates property of students, return them: Punjab and Haryana HC orders medical college

Justice Tiwari asked the college to point out “under which authority or rule, it has power to retain the original documents of the petitioners and other medical students.” The college could not cite any such provision.

Relying on a 2022 Division Bench ruling in Monika vs Pt B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, the judge reiterated that a student’s certificates are “his/her individual property” and that “adopting the method of retaining original certificates/documents is unfair to say the least.”

The petitioners from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 MBBS batches had joined White Medical College but sought transfers due to a “lack of adequate infrastructure.” This led to an earlier case in 2023, after which the National Medical Commission (NMC) ordered, on January 18, 2024, the transfer of all students from the college to eight other recognised institutions across Punjab.

White Medical College challenged the NMC’s order before the high court and later the Supreme Court, but both dismissed its plea. Justice Tiwari recorded that the transfer issue “has attained finality.”

Despite the finality of the transfer, the college refused to hand over students’ original documents, citing unpaid fees for two months of their fourth semester. It claimed it had paid faculty salaries during that period and therefore had a right to recover dues. It also relied on a condition in a Baba Farid University notice requiring students to clear dues before transfer.

Students, however, argued that once they were relocated in October 2024, they had to pay the full semester fee again at their new colleges. Making them pay White Medical College for the same period, they said, amounted to double payment caused entirely by the college’s lack of infrastructure.

The court rejected the college’s argument that unpaid dues justified withholding documents. It held that the university’s conditional permission did not authorise such action. Justice Tiwari clarified that the college “undoubtedly has the right to recover its lawful dues by taking recourse to appropriate legal proceedings,” but the court would not rule on whether those dues were recoverable because the issue involved “mixed questions of fact and law.”

The college was granted liberty to pursue any legal remedy available for fee recovery but not by retaining certificates.

Issuing a categorical order, the court directed the college to hand over all original documents “forthwith, and in any case, not later than seven days from the date of passing of this order.” The petition was then disposed of.

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