Students frustrated with colleges withholding original documents in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Instances of degree colleges in the state refusing to hand over original documents to students leaving their respective institutions midway through the academic year have been brought to the attention of the Fee Regulatory Committee, which is now acting in the capacity of the Admission Overseeing Committee.

The departments of medical and higher education, besides universities the colleges are affiliated to, have warned colleges against withholding original documents. However, medical, dental and engineering colleges are stipulating that students pay the fee for the entirety of the course if they want their original documents.

Headed by Justice B Sreenivase Gowda, the committee has been successful in facilitating the return of original documents to students. A Master of Dental Science (MDS) student approached the committee alleging that KLE Society’s Institute of Dental Sciences was asking for Rs 4 lakh to return his documents.

“When we summoned representatives of the college management, they told us that the institution would lose Rs 4 lakh if the student left the college since they would not be able to fill the vacant seat. However, we later learnt that the student had been compelled by financial problems to leave the college and take a job,” the committee stated in its order.

The student had, however, managed to amass a sum of Rs 50,000. “We advised the college management to take the student’s circumstances into account, and return the original documents after collecting Rs 50,000, which is what the college did,” the committee said.

Two engineering colleges in Bengaluru too found themselves in the dock for refusing to hand over original documents to their students. “Cambridge Institute of Technology in Bengaluru was refusing to return the original documents of a student who was dropping out owing to poor health. Replying to a notice, the college said that the documents would be returned if the student came in person and submitted a medical certificate. The student subsequently did so, and got her original documents,” the committee said.

Bangalore Institute of Technology, meanwhile, asked its student, who was leaving college to prepare for a competitive examination, to pay Rs 1.5 lakh for her documents. The student also alleged that the college had collected additional fees to the tune of Rs 28,000 during admission. “Following the committee’s intervention, the college agreed to return the documents but demanded that the student come to the college in person. The student went to the college, and was able to get her documents back,” said the committee.

The Fee Regulatory Committee has advised students to approach it should any of them face trouble over issues such as excess fee, withholding of documents, among others.