KOCHI: When 25 girls from Kerala attended the interview held by the representatives of Tehmi Grant Institute of Nursing Education in Maharashtra, little did they know they were being taken for a ride.
These 25 girls have lost two of their precious years as the college had not informed them they had to clear MHCET for getting admission in BSc Nursing course in an institute in Maharashtra.
According to Biju Mathew, the representative of the parents of the aggrieved students, they had very good NEET scores.
“They even had good marks in Plus-Two. But all of this has come to nought. The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) withheld the first-year result of these students since the lack of MHCET score made them ineligible to continue the said course,” he said.
The parents then lodged a complaint against the institution with the Kottayam SP as the admissions were held by the representatives of the college there.
“The case has been taken up by Kottayam SP Harishankar. The police are initiating steps to bring the five accused persons to stand trial in Kerala,” said Biju.
He said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.
“The students have undergone a great ordeal and pain. They seek the return of their fees paid along with compensation and their original certificates submitted for admission. I request your helpful intervention in this case,” said Pinarayi in his letter.
“We are awaiting a reply from the Maharashtra CM. However, after the students were asked to join the deemed universities to continue with their courses, 22 of them sought admission in three varsities by paying `1.20 lakh,” he said.
Three students came back to Kerala as they didn’t have the money to pay the fees, he said.
Riya Sabu, a student, said after the issue came to light, the college management had in January promised students they will get them admitted to deemed universities within six months.
“Nothing materialised,” she said. Another student said the other colleges that had similar rules sent back the students in the first stage itself. “But our college preferred to hide the rules from us,” she said.
There had been a similar case in Tamil Nadu last year, said Biju.
“In that case, the Madras High Court directed the management to pay a compensation of `45 lakh and also return the certificates of the students within three days,” he said.
“In our case, the management refrains from paying back the tuition and accommodation fees of around `2.4 lakh they had deposited,” he said.
Repeated attempts to contact the college authorities didn’t yield any results.