NU starts online exam fee payment, colleges oppose

Nagpur: The Nagpur University (NU) has introduced online payment of exam fee only for its affiliated colleges, which are now opposing it due to apprehensions over financial malpractices and stalling of official work.
In fact, the colleges have conveyed to NU exam section that it would be better if the task of online exam fee payment is done by students themselves. The students too have been demanding the facility as they are compelled to stand in long queues before every exam season.
The opposition has forced the NU to relax the condition within one-and-a-half month of implementation till further decision is taken. On March 28, the exam section had notified that a new payment gateway was created for exam fee for colleges after the management council approved it.
As per the decision, college clerks would be collecting forms and fees from the students followed by online payment running into a couple of lakhs. Later, the receipt, along with the form, had to be submitted to the exam section.
Soon, colleges found that they may not be able to provide their netbanking login details to clerks as the accounts contains huge funds, which would be susceptible to frauds.
The new facility also didn’t provide any relief to students who would continue to stand in long queues to submit the forms.
A college official said there is no guarantee that college accounts would not be misused in case netbanking details are given to lower rung employees.
“Another problem is that the work would stall as OTPs are sent when big transactions take place. Generally, the trust’s secretary or principal’s mobile numbers are registered with banks. So, either the principal will have to keep aside everything when exam fee is paid or handover his cell phone to the clerk. Both can’t happen,” the official said.
The NU boasted that the online payment removed commission that the colleges were incurring on demand drafts over the years. The application also calculates late fee as per the number of days lapsed from the deadline.
Following the colleges’ reluctance, the NU on Tuesday exempted those who wish to pay through cheque or DD or RTGS.
Exam officials said grant-in-aid colleges were not ready for the transition to online payment. They would require opening new accounts for online transactions as they have current accounts.
They said that earlier colleges used to mislead students and quote any amount as late fee. “The new system calculates exact fee as per the date on which it is being paid. This may not be acceptable to colleges,” they said.