Nagpur: On October 23, 2016, Nagpur University had announced it would refund the revaluation fees to students, if they clear the subject after the rechecking.
Nearly five years down the line, not a single penny has been refunded to anyone.
Now, it has come to light that the proposal was rejected by the statutory bodies.
The fact came to fore after an RTI query by activist Abhay Kolarkar, where NU officials informed that no directives have been given to them in this regard, nor have any rules been framed.
They also informed that not a single application from any student has been received till date for getting a refund.
Recently, speaking to TOI, vice chancellor Subhash Chaudhari stated that the decision in this regard was made by his predecessor SP Kane and afterwards the proposal came up for discussion in statutory bodies.
After demands made by students’ organizations like ABVP, NSUI, MNS and NCP, Kane had declared it would refund the fees of Rs150 per paper if the student cleared the subject in revaluation.
He had also termed it as his ‘dream project’ at that time.
On October 5, 2017, TOI had highlighted how exam section officials were caught off guard when some passed out students sought refund of revaluation fee citing VC Kane’s commitment.
Board of Examination and Evaluation (BOEE) director Prafulla Sable said though he didn’t exactly remember, the proposal was rejected by the statutory bodies.
“Since the advent of online examinations from last year, we’ve completely stopped the revaluation facility, as there is no scope for it in the multiple choice question (MCQs), where the answer would be either right or wrong.
I need to check old records for exact information on this issue,” he told TOI.
NU officials claimed that when Kane had announced to refund the amount, the proposal wasn’t finalised.
When Chaudhari took over, a committee was constituted to study it.
The panel had recommended refunding 50%-75% amount to the students clearing subjects, after deducting processing fees and other charges.
However, when it was tabled before the BOEE, its members unanimously rejected the proposal stating that it was not feasible.
According to them, it would be a complicated procedure to refund the fees, as NU needs to first deposit the amount into colleges’ accounts, who will then transfer it to the students.
“However, there would be no guarantee that the students would approach colleges for such a meagre amount and ultimately the colleges would be benefitted.
Moreover, NU incurs a lot of expenditure on teachers conducting revaluation, clerks making data entry, for printing and other costs,” NU officials told TOI.
IN A NUTSHELL * NU ex-VC Kane decided to refund reval amount to students * Many organisations like ABVP, NSUI, MNS & NCP were demanding it * Though declaration was made on October 23, 2016, students kept in dark * Kane asked NU officials to issue notification for refunding amount * After his tenure ended, proposal came up before new VC Chaudhari * A panel was constituted to study Kane’s proposal & submit report * Panel submitted a report to BOEE to refund 50%-70% amount * BOEE members rejected proposal terming it unfeasible & complicated # NU revenue earned through reval in 3 yrs: Year ———————– Revenue (Rs) 2016-17 ——————-47,66,404 2017-18 —————– 1,15,53,657 2018-19 —————– 1,66,92,737 2019-20 —————– 1,45,59, 700 2020-21 —————– 2,03,995 # Reval application received in 3 yrs: Exams——————– Applications Summer 2016 ——– 11,116 Winter 2016 ——– 20,858 Summer 2017 ——– 23,774 Winter 2017 ——– 29,544 Summer 2018 ——– 38,996 Winter 2018 ——— 45,149 Summer 2019 ——– 45,500 Winter 2019 ——— 63,275 Summer 2020 ——– 1,245