Students pursuing MBBS at Gandaki Medical College, Pokhara, have warned of filing a forgery case against the college administration at the District Police Office, Kaski, saying the institute charged them more than the fee fixed by the government.

Students Anit Sinha, Manaswi Kafle, Harish Joshi, Ankit Sharma, Sarita Kunwar and Samrat Parajuli have also demanded action against college Chairman Khuma Prasad Aryal, Principal Rabeendra Prasad Shrestha, Chief Administrative Officer Krishna Ghimire, Finance Controller Yub Raj Sharma and account officials Hari Poudel and Dinesh Poudel.

The college students had been protesting for the last 32 days—some of them had even came to Kathmandu to press the concerned authorities to address their problems.

“Despite our month-long protest, no action was initiated against the college administration for charging us extra money,” Sinha, a 2016-batch MBBS student in the college, told the Post. “So we were forced to seek legal recourse.”

The students had earlier warned of legal action if their demands were not addressed.

According to the students, the college has collected more than Rs455 million by charging students of 2015 to 2018 batches more than the fee set by the government.

As per the government decision, the fee in Kathmandu Valley has been set at Rs3.8 million while private medical colleges outside the Valley should not charge more than Rs4.24 million for the MBBS course.

In their complaint filed with police, the students have said the college charged around Rs800,000 each from students of the 2015 batch. Similarly, the students of the 2016 batch have said the college charged them from Rs1 million to Rs1.3 million, while the 2017 batch students have already paid an extra amount from Rs200,000 to Rs600,000.

The students of 2018 batch have also said that the college has already collected Rs300,000 from many students.

“The college has demanded Rs75,000 per quarterly during the time of admission. The college had warned us that it would not allow to sit in internal exams if we did not pay the amount,” Sharma, a 2018-batch MBBS student, told the Post. The District Police Office said it would file a case of fraud at the Kaski District Court against the ones who have been accused by the students.

"Once the students register the case with the police, we will file the case later at the district court," SP Om Bahadur Rana, chief of Kaski District Police, told the Post.

While the students have been staging protests and accusing the college administration of extortion, the college administration says it is waiting for a decision of the Tribhuvan University Executive Council. The council has formed a five-member committee led by Kushum Shakya to investigate into the matter and submit a report.