Opposition pulls up Pinarayi Vijayan on scholarship

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has written a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking immediate steps to ensure low-income students benefit from the scholarship scheme announced by the Fee Regulatory Committee.

He said the NRI fee was increased from last year’s Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The regulatory body earmarked the increased Rs 5 lakh for scholarships. However, in the present circumstances, its chances are remote, Mr Chennithala said.

The scholarship fund has not been constituted even as the registration began on August 8 and is scheduled to end on August 16. In such circumstances, only students who could remit Rs five lakh per year could get admitted to medical colleges. They would only be eligible for the scholarship if it is announced later, he said.

As per the fee panel, the extra amount of Rs five lakh on 397 NRI seats can be utilised for providing a freeship to 397 financially backward students as the fee structure fixed by the committee for 85 percent seats was Rs five lakh, Mr Chennithala said.

The decision to introduce a clause on bank guarantee after two private medical colleges signed a deal with the government that they would follow the previous year’s fee structure was the result of a conspiracy between the government and the managements.

The order issued by Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) to pay Rs 11 lakh interest-free deposit, and produce a bank guarantee for Rs 50 lakh on top of the Rs 5 lakh fees in 85 per cent seats as fixed by the court is quite strange, Mr Chennithala said.