Students who completed their graduation and post-graduation from Gour Banga University (GBU) are paying as much as ₹3,000 to obtain their original certificates within three working days, triggering discontent among applicants seeking the documents on an emergency basis.

Many of the applicants have said the situation arose largely because the university has not held its convocation for more than seven years, forcing students who passed out after 2017 to rely only on provisional certificates.

The urgency has increased after the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) began counselling for candidates who cleared the recruitment examination for teachers of Classes XI and XII. The commission has asked candidates to produce original university certificates, prompting several former GBU students to apply for them on an urgent basis.

According to university sources, students who have passed their final graduation or post-graduation examinations are required to pay ₹1,000 to obtain the original certificate within seven working days.

However, those seeking the certificate within three working days must pay ₹3,000, a fee approved by the university’s executive council (EC).

Khalida Parveen, a former student of GBU, expressed her dissatisfaction on social media.

“Earlier, too, we had to pay ₹1,500 to collect provisional certificates for each of the graduation and post-graduation examinations and now, the varsity is demanding ₹3,000 to issue the original certificate. This is indeed a burden on students from middle-class backgrounds,” she wrote.

This basically means that students trying to get a certificate within three days are ending up spending ₹ 4500 for the certificate (provisional and original)

The convocation was not held because of various reasons, including a delay in appointing a vice-chancellor. Had the convocation been held, the students would have received the certificates immediately against a fee of ₹1,000.

Several other students voiced similar concerns.

“We are not responsible for the university not holding the convocation. But we are paying the price for it,” said another applicant seeking an original certificate.

Ashis Bhattacharjee, the vice-chancellor of GBU, said the university was aware of the issue.

“It is true that the convocation has not been held for the past eight years. I joined the GBU in November 2025 and we are trying to take up the convocation issue in the next meeting of the executive council,” he said.

Bhattacharjee added that the fee structure had already been approved by the EC. “The decision to charge ₹3,000 for issuance of the original certificate within three working days and ₹1,000 within seven working days was taken by the EC, the highest decision-making body of the university. We are only implementing the decision,” he said.