Haryana Bond Policy: MoU Confusion between State and Bank

Rohtak: The controversy and debate regarding MBBS bond policy in Haryana got reignited after the State released the tripartite agreement to be executed by the MBBS student who is taking admission, the IDBI bank, and the Government/Institute.

While previous batches of students denied to sign the agreement without getting a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the bank and the State Government, the parents of the new mbbs students taking admission also protested.

Finally, the issue got resolved recently after Government officials, and bank representatives came to meet the students at the Director's office at PGIMS Rohtak and discussed the matter in detail. The authorities also shared a copy of the MoU with the students and their parents. 

The students have requested the university administration and IDBI Bank that in future, if any such agreement or decision is taken between the government, the college or the bank regarding the bond policy, it should be shared with the students at the same time and the students should be made a participant in it so that they have all the information, stated a release issued by the MBBS students of PGIMS Rohtak.

Meanwhile, the students and parents have demanded that the copy of the MoU should be immediately uploaded on the DMER Haryana and counseling website so that every student seeking admission knows all the conditions of the MoU and new students do not leave the colleges of Haryana due to doubts in the bond policy.

Also Read: Haryana MBBS Students Urge Government to publish amended bond service rules

Medical Dialogues had last year reported that the State Government's 7-year-long bond service policy was heavily criticised and the MBBS students in Haryana started strongly protesting against the same. As per the notification published in the State Government Gazette dated November 07, 2022, "All candidates completing their MBBS Course from Government Medical Colleges in the State of Haryana, shall have to execute a tripartite bond at the time of admission amounting to Rs 36,40,636/- in Government Medical Colleges and Rs 32,80,000/- in Government Aided Medical College i.e MAMC, Agroha which will be signed at the time of admission between the candidate, bank and Government (through the Institution concerned in which the candidate gets admission)."

Clearly, the medicos were upset with the bond-cum-loan agreement worth almost Rs 40 lakh. There was also confusion about those students who would pursue Postgraduation. Finally, after a month-long protest, the medicos had a meeting with the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who announced recently that the bond policy would be modified. The Chief Minister announced the decision of reducing the bond service period from 7 years to 5 years and bond anount from 40 lakhs to 30 lakhs.

The CM had also assured that "Not everyone has to pay this (bond) amount. Only those who'll complete MBBS in next 5 years & will earn more than govt salary will pay this amount. We've also given job guarantee. Those who will not get any Pvt or govt job will be given contractual employment for 1 yr."

However, the confusion among the MBBS students started again when the State Government on July 27, 2023, published the tripartite agreement that needs to be signed by the MBBS students from the 2020 batch and also the new MBBS students taking admission this year.

Referring to this, Pankaj Bitthu, an MBBS student from PGIMS Rohtak told Medical Dialogues, "When we saw the agreement, we saw that there were several ambiguous conditions and many things were not mentioned in it. There was a reference of a Memrandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government and the IDBI bank. The agreement mentioned that the MoU was a part of the agreement. However, we did not have any idea regarding the MoU as it had not been published anywhere. So, how could we sign it?"

"When the college administration issued a notice and asked the MBBS batches from 2020 onwards to deposit the agreement duly signed within 10 days, we first came to know about this. Previous batches denied and they sent representations pointing out their concerns and asked the authorities to address them. They also made it clear that until and unless their concerns were addressed, they would not sign anything," he added.

He explained that the main problem concerned the new MBBS batch taking admission this year. For them, the Government made it mandatory to sign the agreement and otherwise they would not be considered as joined their seats.

"We sent representation to the State Government and other authorities and the parents also protested. Finally, this has been resolved, officials came here today and regional managers of the bank also came. They gave us the copy of the MoU. After reading it 85-90% confusions were resolved. We just wanted to ensure whether the Government was sticking to their own policy or not. So, for the new students, the issue has been resolved and they will take admission after signing the agreement, For the rest of the concerns, we will submit our representation to the Government," he further mentioned.

Also Read:Bond service term reduced to 5 years, penalty to Rs 25.77 lakh: Haryana releases Amended Bond Policy for MBBS Students