The National Students Union India (NSUI) has alleged that the Ayurveda colleges based in the State have not refunded the excess fees they had taken from the students in gross violation of the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) order.
Addressing the media persons at the State party office on Saturday, the NSUI’s national general secretary Nikhil Kamble said that the Uttarakhand High Court had directed all the 16 Ayurveda colleges based in the State to refund the extra fees they had made the students to pay. “But they are still not acting on the court order asking them to pay back the excess fee,” he said and added that the students of these colleges would hold a march to the Vidhan Sabha on December 4 on the issue. “NSUI has extended its full support to the agitated students,” he said.
Lalit Tiwari, a final year student of Ayurveda, said that on July 9, the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia of Uttarakhand High Court had quashed the Government order (GO) dated 14 October, 2015 on the basis of which the colleges had hiked their fees. “The court directed these colleges to refund the excess fee they had taken from the students.
The order of the single bench was later challenged by the association of Ayurveda colleges in the double bench, but on October 9, it dismissed the appeal and upheld the order of the single bench.
The Ayurveda colleges raised their tuition fees from Rs 80,000 per year to a staggering Rs 2.15 lakh.
The court endorsed our stand, but the colleges are not implementing its order. We would file a contempt petition in the court and also launch an agitation. More than 2000 students are waiting for the fee refund which amounts to Rs 3.5 lakh per student,’’ he said.
The State NSUI president Mohan Bhandari and other student leaders were present during the media conference.