By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 25: The government said it would begin a process to take action against the medical colleges if they failed to refund the extra fees they had collected from the students.
A meeting of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal, Minister for Education Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel, attorney general Agni Kharel, Inspector General of Nepal Police Sarbendra Khanal and others held at Home Ministry on Monday took this decision.
Earlier in October and in the second week November, meetings of Home Minister Thapa, Minister Thapa and others had given an ultimatum of one month and additional 15 days for the medical colleges to refund the extra fees, and had decided to take action if the colleges did not abide by the instruction.
Meanwhile, Minister for Education Science and Technology Pokharel requested to the owners of the medical colleges to refund the extra fees charged by them by Tuesday to maintain the values and prestige of medical education.
In a meeting with the concerned stakeholders on Monday, Minister Pokharel said the government was not in mood to jail the personalities of the medical education sector. “So, I called this meeting to remind you of the deadline to refund the extra fee,” Minister Pokharel was quoted by Puran Khadka, his personal secretary.
The 15 days’ deadline will expire on Tuesday.
A Cabinet meeting last year had fixed the fees for the MBBS course at Rs. 3.85 million for the medical colleges being operated in the Kathmandu Valley and Rs. 4.24 million for the colleges outside the valley. However, the colleges had charged extra money under different headings.