Madras HC imposes Rs 3 crore penalty on Dental college for tampering with students attendance register

Further, the college is also facing an inquiry and withdrawal of approval after the HC bench comprising of Justice Krishnan Ramasamy directed the concerned authorities in this regard.

Those two students had not paid the excess fees demanded by the Dental College and following this, the college allegedly barred them from completing their course on the ground that they lacked attendance.

Concluding that the attendance register had been tampered by the college, the Madras HC has also directed the college to pay Rs 24 lakh to each of the students and issue them with course completion certificates.

The college has also been instructed for installing biometric attendance system for avoiding interpolations.

These directions came from the HC while it was considering petitions filed by two dental students. One of them had been admitted under the management quota, while the other student had been admitted under the government quota.

Approaching the HC bench, those students claimed that the college had demanded excess fees from them and the college also didn't allow them to complete their course on the ground that they lacked attendance.

The college, on the other hand, claimed that the real reason for non-completion of course for those two students was the lack in attendance.

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As per the latest media report by The Hindu, taking note of the submissions, the judge asked for the attendance register, observing which, the judge opined that it had been interpolated.

The attendance register showed that on many days, the letter 'P' which indicates 'present' had been changed to 'A', which stands for 'absent'.

Taking note of such a 'cheap' act of the dental college, the judge directed the college to pay a compensation of Rs 24 lakh to each of the petitioners who failed to commence their dental practice for the last four years.

Apart from paying the money to them within a month, the HC bench also directed the institute to issue them with course completion certificates so that they could obtain their degrees from the university.

The college has also been imposed with a penalty of Rs 3 crore, which has to be deposited with Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University within eight weeks. This money would be utilized by the University for providing scholarship to poor students.

Further, the university has been instructed by the bench to ensure that all the colleges affiliated to it have biometric attendance system so that interpolations could be avoided.

Apart from this, the State Government, Director of Medical University, MGR University and the Dental Council of India have been directed to conduct an inquiry against the Dental College and take appropriate action- which might include withdrawal of approval and de-affiliation.