PANAJI
The newly admitted students of the Goa Dental College have complained to the Health Department against what they say is an “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary” hike in the fees for the post graduate courses at the Goa Dental College and Hospital to which they have only recently enrolled.
The students are aggrieved that the Goa government has hiked the fees from Rs 12,000 per semester to Rs 1-lakh per semester which takes the yearly fees from Rs 24,000 to Rs 2-lakh per year.
“The fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling showed that the fees per semester for the Post Graduate students would be Rs 12,000. The students at no point of time were intimated or given any notice of any increase in the tuition fees even at the time of seeking admission,” the students have said in a missive to the Undersecretary (Health).
“With the revised fees of Rs 1 lakh per semester, it translates into a whopping 833.3% increase from the previous amount of fees charged for the respective courses and such a substantial increase that too after the students have taken admission is wholly arbitrary, unreasonable and unjustified,” the students, said.
“The retrospective increase in fees at this point of time is therefore not only contrary to the terms of contract but is also against the principles of promissory estoppel,” the students have said.
The students have argued that many of them have studied and appeared for the NEET exam by keeping the affordability of the course in mind and such a move to hike the fees after the admission process was completed as almost extortion.
“We have opted for admission to the various courses based on the fee and stipend structure that was displayed during counselling and were under the bonafide impression that the same fee structure shall prevail. This increase in the fees without prior notice is not only arbitrary and unreasonable but is also totally unfair for the students who have spent years preparing for the NEET Entrance Exam and taken admission after careful planning of their finances keeping in mind the fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling,” the students have said.
