Medical students seek refund of excess fee

Demand after govt announced uniform fee structure in pvt colleges

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 27

Three weeks after a large number of postgraduate (MD/MS) medical students paid Rs7.45 lakh and Rs 4.75 lakh as 50 per cent of annual fee to two private medical colleges in Bathinda and Amritsar, respectively, the students are facing a tough time in getting a refund after the state government announced a uniform fee structure on May 19.

During the counselling for admission in MD/MS courses on May 2, these students had deposited 50 per cent of their total annual tuition fee with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and Adesh Medical College.

At the time of counselling, the annual tuition fee for Bathinda and Amritsar-based medical colleges was Rs14.90 lakh and Rs9.5 lakh, respectively. The students admitted to the colleges had to pay 50 per cent of the annual fee on May 2. However, on May 19, the state government announced to cut the annual fee to Rs6.5 lakh in all private medical colleges of the state.

Now, students in Bathinda and Amritsar are demanding the refund of the excess fee they had paid on May 2. The students of Bathinda are demanding a refund of Rs4.20 lakh and those of Amritsar are seeking a refund of Rs1.5 lakh.

The authorities in BFUHS said the university had not sent the tuition fee to medical colleges as yet. However, the university was still undecided about the refund of excess fee to students as both Bathinda and Amritsar private medical colleges had not yet agreed to accept the cut in their tuition fee.

A senior functionary in the Bathinda-based Adesh Medical College said the management committee of the college was yet to review the situation arising after the state government slashed the tuition fee.