For Admission Contact Us 96119 37023
For Admission Contact Us 96119 37023
The Commission has notified University Grants Commission (Grievance Redressal) Regulations, 2012 on redressal of multifarious grievances of students. But given the sheer volume of the complaints regarding non-refund of fees and retention of original certificates by Higher Educational Institutions (HEI), the Commission felt the need to notify elaborate instructions so as to curb such malpractices and decided to issue appropriate instructions in the form of this Notification to all universities and other HEIs under the purview of the UGC.
To prohibit coercive and profiteering institutional practices in the matters related to refund of fees in case of withdrawal from the programme and retention of original certificates at the time of and/or after admission.
In exercise of powers conferred by Section 12 (d) read with Section 12(j) of the UGC Act, 1956, the UGC issues this Notification for adoption of standard operating procedures in the matters related to refund of fees in the event of student's withdrawal from the program and non-retention of certificates at the time of admission.
3.1. The instructions contained in this Notification shall be in supersession to its earlier Public Notice dated 23.04.2007 and its Notification dated 16th December, 2016. It shall be applicable to Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Research Programs run by universities included under Section 2 (f) of UGC Act, together with all colleges under their affiliating domain and institutions declared as deemed to be universities under Section 3 of the UGC Act.
3.2 The provisions contained in this Notification shall come into force with immediate effect and shall have regulatory force on extant as well as future grievances over issues and matters covered herein.
The Commission herewith lays down specific provisions and consequent mandatory compliance on the issues related to:
For any complaint in respect of (1) & (2) above, the grievance redressal mechanism as prescribed under UGC (Grievance Redressal) Regulations, 2012, shall be followed.
4.1.1 No HEI shall make it mandatory for applicants to purchase the institutional prospectus at any time during the course of the programme of study. Purchasing prospectus shall be the personal choice of the applicant and he/she shall have rights to decide against it in case he/she wishes to access the information from the institutional website. As laid down in the Right to Information Act, 2005, and reiterated in the UGC Guidelines on Students' Entitlement, all HEIs shall disclose on their website and prospectus information regarding the status of the institution, its affiliation, accreditation status, physical assets and amenities, course-wise sanctioned intake of students, various types of fees payable for different programmes, total fees payable for an entire programme, last date of admission, details of faculty, members of governing bodies and minutes of the meetings of bodies like Academic/Executive Council, sources of income, the financial situation and any other information about its functioning, necessary for an applicant to make a fully informed choice.
4.1.2 HEIs shall charge fees in advance only for the semester/year in which a student is to engage in academic activities. Collecting advance fees for the entire programme of study or for more than one semester/year in which a student is enrolled is strictly prohibited.
4.1.3 If a student chooses to withdraw from the programme of study in which he/she is enrolled, the institution concerned shall follow the following five-tier system for the refund of fees remitted by the student.
| S. No | Percentage of Refund of fees* | Point of time when notice of withdrawal of admission is received in the HEI |
|---|---|---|
| (1) | 100% | 15 days or more before the formally-notified last date of admission |
| (2) | 90% | Less than 15 days before the formally-notified last date of admission |
| (3) | 80% | 15 days or less after the formally- notified last date of admission |
| (4) | 50% | 30 days or less, but more than 15 days, after formally-notified last date of admission |
| (5) | 100% | More than 30 days after formally- notified last date of admission |
4.1.4 In case of (1) in the table above, the HEI concerned shall deduct an amount not more than 5% of the fees paid by the student, subject to a maximum of Rs. 5,000/- as processing charges from the refundable amount.
4.1.5 Fees shall be refunded by all HEIs to an eligible student within fifteen days from the date of receiving a written application from him/her in this regard.
4.2.1 No HEI shall insist upon a student to submit the original academic and personal certificates, like, mark-sheets, school leaving certificates and other such documents, at the time of submitting admission form, but the submission of self-attested copies thereof shall be mandatory.
4.2.2 HEIs shall physically verify the originals at the time of admission of the student in his/her presence and return them immediately after satisfying themselves about their authenticity, keeping the attested copies for their record.
4.2.3 The self-attested certificates of students shall be held valid and authentic by institution concerned and/or the affiliating university for all purposes and administrative requirements and should there be a need for physical verification at any time during the course of the programme of study, such verification shall be undertaken and the original certificates thus used for verification shall be returned immediately to the student concerned.
4.2.4 Taking the certificates into institutional custody under any circumstance or pretext is strictly prohibited.
4.2.5 In case of any suspicion over the authenticity or genuineness of a certificate, reference may be made to university or the Board which issued the certificate to the student and the admission be subjected to the authentication, but original certificate shall not be retained by the HEI under any circumstance.
4.3.1 All HEIs shall mandatorily have a "Grievance Redressal Mechanism" (GRM) as mandated by UGC (Grievance Redressal) Regulations, 2012, as amended from time to time, to address and effectively resolve complaints, representations and grievances related to any of the issues mentioned in this Notification.
4.3.2 The GRM shall be available on HEI website.
4.3.3 HEIs shall ensure that all grievances received are addressed as deemed fit within 30 days.
The Commission, in respect of any HEI which contravenes or fails to comply with the provisions of this Notification, shall proceed to take one or more of the following actions, namely:-
Provided that no action shall be taken by the Commission under this Notification unless the HEI has been given an adequate opportunity of being heard.