The Supreme Court's recent ruling, barring coaching centres from functioning in residential areas in connection with a case filed in the Rajasthan high court, could hit students and parents where it hurts the most - their pockets.

Shifting to commercial establishments would mean higher investment costs and higher tuition fees for several coaching centres in the city.

Legal experts say the ruling pertaining to the Rajasthan court case, where select colonies witnessed the growth of large clusters of coaching centres, could be used as a precedent for similar cases in other states. The SC ruling said the centres were a nuisance to women and the elderly and should be shifted out of residential areas.

Poonam Dadlani of Winner's Academy said to the Times of India that several parents of a gated community in Chitlapakkam wanted a branch of the centre there. Aakash Chaudhry, director of Aakash Educational Services, said a lot of institutes running out of residential areas or individual houses would see their operational costs rise if they moved out.