Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Dr Kiran Bedi confronted the officials of Sri Venkateswara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SVMCH) after receiving complaints that they stopped students from entering the classroom due to a fee dispute.
In a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, Kiran Bedi is seen undertaking a surprise visit to the college along with the Health Secretary Dr Candavelou after receiving complaints from 20 second-year MBBS students during an open house event.
In the video, she confronts the college authorities for having made the students sit separately and not allowing them to attend classes. She reads out a portion of the High Court order which states that the students shall not be prevented from attending the classes. When the college official attempts to intervene and claims that they have not done such a thing, she is seen asking the officer to accompany her to the class and show the students.
She was seen repeatedly telling the college authorities to not play with the career of the students. “Money will come and go but don’t play with the career of the children,” she said.
Despite the college representative’s attempts to tell her that the students were admitted under the management quota and that the fees amount to Rs 16 lakhs, she said that the matter must be settled in court and that students must not be deprived of the classes.
“If it was your son or daughter, would you have done this? Of course we are officers, but we are parents also,” she said.
Kiran Bedi then calls the students to ask them of their complaints and the students tell her that they were made to sit in a room away from the main classroom and that their classes were conducted without a projector. The students also said that they have missed almost half the semester due to this segregation by the college authorities.
She said that a professor from JIPMER will be asked to come to the college to cover up the missed classes and told the students to meet her after a month to update her on their education.
“Rest of the matter whatever is pending is before the High Court, it will be settled there, but your education will not be affected,” she said.
The Lt Governor also said that the college ignored the notice sent by the Health Secretary on the matter and the High Court order and hence she was forced to come to the college to set things right.