Friday, November 16, 2018

MEDICOS THREATEN STRIKE

Med varsity in turmoil as students want fee on hold till SC hears plea

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.11.2018

At least 500 of the 750 MBBS students of Raja Muthiah Medical College, attached to the Annamalai University in Chidambaram, who were ousted from their classes for non-payment of tuition fee, have threatened to go on strike if the state government does not allow them to attend classes until the Supreme Court hears their review petition against the course fee.

The fee-fixation committee, under the chairmanship of justice NV Balasubramanian, had fixed to ₹5.4 lakh as annual MBBS fee and ₹3.5 lakh as annual BDS course fee. The committee fixed the fee after the Supreme Court said the statutory committee’s should fix the fee. Accordingly, the government informed the court on September 15 that the committee had decided to retain the college fee at ₹4 lakh.

Parents of students said the committee, among others, had health secretary J Radhakrishanan and director of medical education Dr Edwin Joe. These members would be biased, as they were also members of the senate since 2013, when the government took over the university due to financial and administrative irregularities, said Doctors Association for Social Equality general secretary Dr GR Ravindranath.

“The university did not have a separate expenditure and balance sheet for the college,” said a parent, B Kamaraj. “In gross violation of the SC order, they added ₹100 crore hospital expenses as expenditure. The committee has also overlooked the fact that the university is showing annual government grants to the institution as loans. The fee amount is jacked up as the institution is submitting unaudited accounts.”

Hours after the writ petition was decided by SC, on September 12, parents were given a 24-hour deadline to pay fee, he said. “How do we arrange for funds in just 24 hours,” asked another parent. Meanwhile, director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe said the parents were told during admissions that the decision of the fee committee would be final.

“This college is not run like 22 other medical colleges of the government. It is a self-financing college and parents knew about the fee structure and what to expect during admissions,” he said.

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