The Tripura High Court has directed the state government to constitute and make functional the Technical Institutions Fee Regulatory Committee in line with the Supreme Court’s directions and rejected a plea by a retired High Court judge seeking remuneration for serving as its chairman.

“Instead of implementing the above Supreme Court judgment in the spirit in which it has been delivered, for almost 23 years the State Government has ignored the same by just constituting the Technical Institutions Fee regulatory committee on paper without making it to function thus enabling such institutions to demand and collect fee for technical courses without any regulation. Therefore, a direction is issued to the State Government to forthwith constitute the Technical Institutions Fee regulatory committee as directed in the above Supreme Court judgment in Islamic Academy of Education (supra), fix the remuneration and other conditions of service to its Chairman and members such as leave etc., provide staff and infrastructure to the said committee, and thus make it functional so that the said judgment of the Supreme Court is implemented in letter and spirit,” the court ruled. 

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit passed the order earlier this month while disposing of a writ appeal filed by Justice (Retired) Alok Baran Pal against a May 16, 2025 judgment of a single judge.

Justice Pal was appointed chairman of a committee constituted by the state government on June 10, 2010, to determine the fee structure of private technical institutions in Tripura. He claimed that the government did not provide the committee with staff or infrastructure and that he was not paid remuneration for the post.

He sought remuneration from December 1, 2018, saying he had held another office until then and was not seeking payment for the earlier period. The state government rejected his claim on May 6, 2023.

The single judge dismissed his petition, holding that the assignment was honorary and that Justice Pal could not claim remuneration after Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas expressed willingness to take over as chairman in February 2016.

The division bench disagreed with the view that Justice Biswas’s willingness by itself brought about a change in the committee. It said the committee could not be treated as reconstituted without a government notification.

The bench, however, declined to grant remuneration to Justice Pal, noting that there was no pleading that he had invited applications from private technical institutions or undertaken any exercise to determine their fee structure during the relevant period.

“Merely because the said committee apparently was constituted on 10.06.2010, the appellant cannot claim remuneration when he had not turned out any work,” the court said.

The bench also observed that Justice Pal should have ascertained the terms and conditions of his appointment, including remuneration, before accepting the chairmanship.

The court noted that the absence of a functional regulatory mechanism had allowed private technical institutions in the state to demand and collect fees for technical courses without regulation.

It directed the state government to forthwith constitute the Technical Institutions Fee Regulatory Committee, determine the remuneration and other service conditions of its chairman and members, including leave, and provide the necessary staff and infrastructure.

The court directed that the exercise be completed within one month of the respondents receiving a copy of the order.