HYDERABAD: In another incident of private medical colleges’ high-handedness, a parent, whose ward took admission to a private college in the city and then relinquished it before the mop-up round, had to wait for a month to get the fee refunded and with a deduction.
A circular from the health ministry said students should be allowed to vacate their seats if they wished so before the mop-up round. As per the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), which monitors admissions to private medical colleges in the state, all those seats relinquished by students before the final round of counselling or the mop-up round are eligible for 100 per cent refund but it is alleged that it is not happening. There have been allegations that parents and students are being made to run from pillar to post to get a refund of the fee. There are also allegations that colleges are charging a partial fee and are even withholding the certificates of such students.
“My ward had taken admission, submitted the bond and even certificates. We expected sliding but when that didn’t happen we wanted to surrender the seat. We called up the KNRUHS officials who said that we could do that and get a refund. But on October 16 we got the fee refund with Rs 1 lakh deducted,” said a parent. He was later asked by the college authorities to write a letter to the college management over the issue. “So far I have not got an answer as to why the amount was deducted. I was told that by October 21 I would get a response,” he said.
Dr K Mahesh Kumar, president of Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA), flayed KNRUHS for its lackadaisical attitude and failure to check violations like seat-blocking, bank guarantee, excess collection of tuition fees and false transaction of stipend by private medical colleges.
“Since no seat finally remains vacant, there is no reason for them to deduct money.
The HRDA urges officials to at least act swiftly from now onwards by taking legal action against private medical colleges which violate the rules and to set up a student grievance cell for immediate action,” he said. Repeated attempts to reach B Karunakar Reddy, the vice-chancellor of the said university, for a response to questions related to the case, proved futile.
Allegations
AAs per the university which monitors admissions to private colleges, all those seats relinquished by students before the mop-up round are eligible for 100 per cent refund allegedly it is not happening.