The Madras High Court on Thursday came across a case of a private college in Kancheepuram district of having admittied many foreign nationals in bachelor of dental surgery course just days before the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in May last making it mandatory that all seats in the country be filled only on the basis of marks secured in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). Expressing anguish over the dreams of the foreigners having been shattered due to change in the medical admissions policy after they had secured admissions here, Justice M.S. Ramesh gave time till Monday to the management of Asan Dental College at Keerapakkam to enter into an amicable settlement with the foreign nationals who demanded return of the money paid in April last year.
During the course of hearing of a petition filed by the administrators of the college to quash a FIR registered against them by Thirukalukundram police on the basis of a complaint lodged by an Iranian student Nasser Hamidavi Zegheiri, the student’s counsel R.C. Paul Kanagaraj brought it to the notice of the court that several medical and dental colleges had admitted foreign nationals before the Supreme Court passed the judgment.
However, in most of those cases, the colleges returned the capitation fees. But Asan College management had not returned the money, he alleged and claimed that as of now only 4 students were demanding their money back since all others had gone back to their countries. He also claimed the four students had paid ₹25 lakh each as capitation fee. Counsel for the suspects mentioned in the FIR contended that there were receipts to prove payment of only ₹5.5 lakh by the complainant. Further stating that no criminal offence had been made out against the college administrators since they were willing to provide education to the complainant even now, counsel said the student could very well start attending classes.
However, referring to the proceedings of Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University which had discharged the complainant from the course for not having cleared NEET, the judge said that it would not be possible for the student to continue the course. He also took note of a communication sent by the university to the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi on April 11 stating that as many as 12 Iranians had been discharged from dental colleges affiliated to the university in 2016-17.
