Students accuse govt college of charging extra fee

Bathinda, July 14

Students (belong to SC category) coming to Government Rajindra College for admissions to different courses have alleged that they have been charged extra fee by the college authorities.

They gathered on the college premises and held a meeting to decide upon a plan of action.

Addressing the meeting of the Punjab Students Union, Hardeep Kaur Kotla said, “In a letter issued by the Union government on July 10, it has been stated that students belonging to the SC (scheduled caste) category would be given post-graduate scholarship and are exempted from paying full fee. But Rajindra College is charging Rs 8,868 to 12,138 from them. If this is not stopped, the union will hold a protest on July 17 at the college.”

The college management, on the other hand, claimed that there was no extra fee being charged from students, except SC students, whose parents’ income was above Rs 2.5 lakh (annually).

Satveer Singh, Associate Professor, said, “There is no major change in fee structure. Only PTA (parent teacher association) fund, examination fee and other funds are increased and this is done whenever new session begins. These funds are used for paying the guest faculty members and to bear other miscellaneous expenses of the college.”

Sources said a number of posts of regular faculty members were getting vacated (retirement) at the college, due to which the authorities have to recruit guest faculty members in every new session. As a result, they have decided to increase such funds so that guest faculties can be paid. — TNS