29 Kharghar engineering students await refunds

About 29 students of diploma engineering at Kharghar’s Bharati Vidyapeeth have been waiting for a refund of their fees for the last three years. Instead, they have been getting only assurances from the college administration. As per the central government, there is a provision of scholarship for students from backward classes that include ST, OBC, SBC and Nomadic Tribes, and they are entitled to get a refund.

The college administration blames the social welfare department in Thane that is responsible for releasing the funds. It says the latter has not released the funds for the academic year 2010-11.

Students claim that every time they visit the college to know of the status of their fee refund, they are given a new date. The latest date given to the students is January 6, when the social welfare department is likely to deposit the fund in the institutes’s account. “In the last three years, we have met the college administration several times, but they just give us assurances and there is no concrete result so far,” said a student, who is entitled to get back his fees as he belongs to the Nomadic Tribes. He added that those who passed from the institute in subsequent years have already received their fees.

Students of academic session of 2008-11, who cleared exams in 2011, are the ones facing a problem. “In the first two years, we received our refunds. But in 2010-11, we did not receive the scholarship and it is still pending,” said another student.

Interestingly, when a few students among them when contacted the social welfare department, they were told that they dispatched the money to the institute. The total outstanding pending is Rs9,06,780 of 29 students. But, the institute claims they have not received the fund from them.

When contacted, PN Tandon, principal of Institute of Technology (Polytechnic), Kharghar, said, “We have been following the issue since the problem began in 2011, when we did not received the fund. It is the department’s responsibility to send the fund in time.” He added that every week we meet officials of the social welfare department to release the fund. However, Tandon informed the fund is likely to be deposited to institutes’s account by January 6 by the social welfare department.

However, students waiting for the scholarship refuted the claim made by college administration. “We have been getting such assurances for the last three years. The institute is just passing the buck,” said a student.

No one from the social welfare department was available for a comment.

Three years on
Engineering students of Bharati Vidyapeeth claim that whenever they visit their college to learn the status of their fee refund, they are given a new date by the administration. The latest date given is January 6.