ROHTAK, May 22 — The intervention of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) notwithstanding, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has reportedly declined to approve transfer of students of Medical College, Agroha, to the Pt B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here.

The 152 students of Agroha Medical College, run by the Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Medical Research and Education (MAIMRE), were transferred to the PGIMS following closure of the college in April last year following refusal by the MCI to recognise it and stoppage of financial assistance to the MAIMRE by the state government.

The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had a few months ago wrote to the Prime Minister to persuade the MCI to approve the transfer of these students to the PGIMS. The PMO reportedly passed on the letter to the Union Secretary for Health for taking favourable action in the interest of the future of the students.

The Secretary reportedly called a meeting in this regard in March. The Commissioner and Secretary, Health, Haryana was also invited to participate in the meeting. The representative of the MCI, it is said, refused to oblige the Haryana Government at the meeting.

The issue was also discussed at the ministerial level on May 12. The Union Minister for Health and the Minister of State for Medical Education, Haryana could not reach any decision and decided to meet again.

Meanwhile, the students are suffering because of criminal breach of trust by the college management and Maharshi Dayanand University.

The college was started in 1988 and its students were “guest students” of the PGIMS. The students were shifted to the college campus in 1994 but for five years no attention was paid to obtain recognition for the college.

Although the college management was supposed to invite the MCI for yearly inspection immediately after shifting students to its campus, it applied for inspection after four years, that to, without developing any facilities. Obviously, the MCI refused to recognise the institute.

In April 1999, in a surprise move, the management of the college decided to close the institute and dump the students at the doorstep of the government. Since the shifting of the students to its campus, the management had charged approximately Rs 3.48 crore as fees from the students from 1994-95 to 1998-99.

Among the 152 students, at least 13 have paid Rs 18 lakh each for seeking admission against the NRI quota. As many as 72 had paid Rs 1.10 lakh each against payment seats.

The management has neither refunded the fees of the students, after closing the institution, nor made any effort to get their degree recognised.

The university is also equally responsible for spoiling the future of these students. According to the rules, provisional affiliation to any college is granted after an expert committee certifies availability of infrastructure and facilities at the institute after visiting its campus. The university granted provisional affiliation to the college without getting any inspection done.

The university ordered inspection after two years and the expert committee, after visiting the campus, reported that the college has only 25 per cent of the required staff and in some of the departments it had no staff at all.

Despite such an adverse report, the university extended the provisional affiliation of the college. The university also continued to admit students to the college year after year knowing fully well that it had no facilities to offer to the students. The university also failed to mention in the prospectus that the institute was not recognised by the MCI.

The Chautala government, after resuming the grants to the institute, has sanctioned a grant of Rs 50 lakh for paying salaries to the faculty and recruiting new members. But this amount, it is reliably learnt, has been utilised in appointing new Class three and four employees and paying salaries to these categories of employees.