Raja Muthiah Medical College- 550 MBBS students struck off roles for non payment of fee

Chennai: 550 MBBS fee defaulters of Raja Muthiah Medical College, affiliated to the Annamalai University have been removed from college rolls until the further decision by the college authorities. The said removal comes on account of non-payment of fee by these studynts

The removal from rolls has resulted in parents to launch a protest, if the tuition fee is not decreased by the government and the college is not brought under the ambit of the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University.

"Facilities in the college are poor, yet it is the most expensive public college. Students don't have adequate attendance because they went on a protest for more than a month. They had to stop it because of a court order. If the government does not hear our plea, we may have to once again go on strike," a parent of an MBBS student told TOI, at a press meet organized by the Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE).

According to Dr. GR Ravindranath DASE, General Secretary, while the tuition fee at art and science colleges affiliated to the university have subsidized their fee, medical and dental colleges continue to charge a higher fee than self-financing colleges.

Taken over by the state Higher Education Department in 2013

Raja Muthiah Medical College was to be run as a self-financing college was a decision taken by the government.The MBBS prospectus mentions the annual fee as Rs 5.5 lakh. "Students who joined the course were aware of the fee. The courts too have ruled in favour of the university," said Sunil Paliwal, Higher Education, Secretary.

University officials gave heavy expenditure as a reason to not decrease the fee. "MBBS students joined colleges based on counselling. Some who had better scores may not have joined because they couldn't afford the fee. Any changes now will be unfair," an official told TOI.