In the courts

The efforts of these hawkers, numbering 54, is apparently to escape the danger of police booking them under various laws and charging recovery fees of around Rs 500. Counsel for BMC M B Rao told the division bench of Justice N J Pandya and Justice S S Parkar that the paotis receipts issued to hawkers by BMC couldn8217;t be used as a right by hawkers. He also said that in the survey done by Tata Institute of Social Sciences on census of hawkers, only 15 of the 54 petitioner hawkers were considered authorised.

Counsel for petitioners DK Vyas and Pritesh Vyas however argued the hawkers were being taken by police, charged Rs 500, and presented before the magistrate who onlyrefunded them Rs 200. The next day, said DK Vyas, hawkers were picked up again.

Government pleader R V Govilkar said police had to take action for misuse of public property because hawkers hawked goods till late in the night and then slept at the place. They washed and cleaned in the same area and stored the merchandise there. Pending demarcation of zones, Justice Pandya ordered that BMC allow hawkers to hawk their goods provided an undertaking was given by them to BMC officers of the area. He added hawkers could be thrown out if they violated the undertaking.

BMC asked to justify hike in medical fees

The Bombay High Court today directed BMC to file an affidavit justifying the steep hike it had made in fees of BMC-run medical colleges. The division bench of Justice NJ Pandya and Justice SS Parkar also asked BMC not to press for recovery of arrears in the increased term fees. 8220;Those students who can pay may pay, but those who cannot, should not be forced for the recovery,8221; the bench ruled.Reading out a government notification on fees colleges could charge, Justice NJ Pandya asked the civic counsel to explain the difference in fees charged by government-run medical colleges and municipal medical colleges. 8220;We understand that as a body, you have the right to fix up your fee rates separately, but it has to be within reason,8221; he noted.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by a group of medical students who challenged the 100 per cent hike effected by BMC through a resolution of January 12, 1999. As per the resolution, the fees have been hiked from Rs 3,925 per term to Rs 8,150 per term. The fees are to be collected with retrospective effect from June 1998. BMC runs three medical colleges: Lokmanya Tilak College, Sion, Seth GS Medical College, Parel and Topiwala College, Mumbai Central. Counsel for petitioners MP Vashi argued the state government, which also ran medical colleges, had not hiked its fees. He said students were admitted on merit to BMC-run medical colleges. Were they to knowfees would be so hiked, they would have joined government-run colleges. Vashi also challenged the hike under the Capitation Fees Act, where BMC couldn8217;t hike fees without seeking state government8217;s sanction.