After SC stays admission to medical college: 32 aspirants say they paid lakhs to brokers for seats

“After the Allahabad High Court allowed us to admit students, 11 were enrolled in MBBS course on September 5. But after the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court, we stopped further admissions and refunded the 11 students,” said Asif Ataullah Khan, the college’s administrative officer. He claimed the college doesn’t owe anything to students now.

On the Rs 10 lakh to be paid to each student, Khan said, “We have not received the court order so far, but will comply with whatever the order states.” On many claiming to have paid brokers for admission, he said: “We have already made it clear to everyone that we are not taking admissions. But still, some people did not believe us and the brokers fooled them and took money … The institute never takes money from any middleman and has not received any amount from anyone other than those 11 students.”

Speaking to The Indian Express on Friday, around 10 “aspirants” claimed they have been staying at the hostel since the first week of November and waiting for the admission process to be completed. While two were from Sitapur and Lucknow, the rest belonged to Andhra Pradesh. One from Andhra, while exiting the boys’ hostel on the campus, said: “We came here in the first week of November. We were told that the total amount for the course is Rs 65 lakh. I paid Rs 12.5 lakh and now came to know that the SC has stayed the high court order… Institute officials and the broker have said that we will get our money back. But we were not given any receipt at the time of payment.”

“There are 32 such aspirants, including me. We have all paid the brokers between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for admission,” said an aspirant from Lucknow. Administrative officer Asif Ataullah Khan denied that these “aspirants” stayed in the college hostel. About the college fee, Khan said fees for first-year MBBS course is Rs 8.5 lakh, as decided by the governing body of the college.

“We do not have any student from the 2017-’18 batch. The MBBS students on campus are from the 2016-17 batch. The final theory exam for the batch is over and practicals will start from November 30,” he added.

A student from the 2016-17 batch said that most teachers are leaving the institute due to controversies and some were not getting regular salaries. “Most faculty members are leaving and our classes are getting affected. There are 96 students in our batch and we are unsure about our future,” the student added. Khan, while accepting that teachers are leaving the college, said: “This is when many choose to switch over to some other institution after getting better offers… But the Supreme Court order, too, is behind teachers leaving.”

Situated at Bakshi ka Talab on Lucknow’s outskirts, around 22 km from the city, the campus of GCRG Institute of Medical Sciences comprises two academic blocks, a GCRG Memorial Hospital, separate hostels for boys and girls and a Vivekanand Hall.

The academic block, where MBBS classes are held, wore a deserted look on Friday with most classrooms and labs locked. The MBBS course was started last year. The trust also runs an engineering institute, polytechnic and a technical institute nearby.