Patna: Junior doctors of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) are livid over the Aryabhatta Knowledge University hiking the PhD thesis submission massively, and will to the varsity to roll back the decision.

The last date of submission of thesis for various postgraduate courses this year is January 27.

The varsity last year hiked the thesis submission fee from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000, said Dr Vinay Kumar, president of the Patna Medical College and Hospital's junior doctors' association.

"Last year, the decision was taken five days before the last date of the submission of the thesis paper. That is why students did not have time to protest the decision, but this year we are not going to tolerate this. In no other state is the thesis submission so high."

Apart from Rs 10,000 thesis submission fee, the postgraduate medical students also have to pay around Rs 7,700 as examination fees, Vinay pointed out.

"We would request the AKU administration to take back the examination fee if they are not going to bring down the thesis submission fee amount," he said. "There are around 600 postgraduate medical students who have been affected by AKU's decision. If our demands are not paid heed to, we might resort to protest."

Sources said the postgraduate medical students of PMCH had earlier requested the college administration to intervene in the matter but the administration said that they couldn't do anything because it was the university's decision.

"We don't find logic in increasing the thesis submission fee so exorbitantly," a junior doctor of PMCH said under cover of anonymity. "If AKU wanted to increase the thesis submission fee this much, it could have done it in phases. The state government should intervene in this matter."