HYDERABAD: Several private medical and dental colleges in Telangana continue to withhold original certificates and have not refunded excess fees despite the Telangana High Court striking down GOs issued in 2017 on fee hike for post-graduate (PG) courses.
The HC on January 19 directed private colleges to refund excess fees collected from students and release original certificates of those who had completed their PG courses within 30 days.
Even after two weeks, students claim that some private colleges have not followed the court orders as they continue to withhold certificates.
“By not releasing the certificates, it’s a clear case of contempt of court and harassment to students. Colleges also have to refund the excess fees if any collected within another two weeks as ordered by the court,” said K Mahesh Kumar, president of Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association, who has filed a PIL in this case, adding that the majority of students from the 2018 batch have not received their certificates.
Students raised concerns as they claimed that they were being turned back by the colleges authorities despite the HC orders.
“When I asked the college management to return my certificates, they asked me to personally visit them to discuss the same. I don’t get why they need to discuss any further when the court has already told them to release the certificates,” said a PG student who graduated in 2020.
Students who gave bank guarantees have received their certificates, but they are reaching out to the colleges seeking the return of the blank cheques collected from them.
“As a bank guarantee, the colleges have taken signed cheques from us so that if the case had come in their favour, they would have used these cheques to deduct the fees from our accounts. Now that the case has come in our favour, we want the college managements to duly return the signed cheque to us,” said Dr Humera, a PG graduate.
When TOI reached out to college managements, they refused to comment on the matter. Sources said that in some cases, the colleges were not releasing original certificates and processing the refund citing that they have not received the court orders yet.
However, authorities at the Kaloji Narayana University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) said that they have sent the court order to all colleges.
“We have sent the court order copy to principals of all colleges and have informed them that if they don’t adhere to it, they may have to face contempt of court,” said Dr D Praveen Kumar, registrar of KNRUHS.
