Students claimed that they had pleaded in vain before the authorities to refund of their hostel fee. At present, LPU has provided hostel facilities on the campus as well in various parts of the city, including hall of a marriage palace on Garha Road and commercial complexes, where students do not get a peaceful atmosphere to study.

Of the total strength of 12,000 students, LPU has over 3,000 hostellers.

Associate Professor of PAU's Faridkot Regional Station Dr RS Singh said his son, Manvendra Bhardwaj got admission in BT (Hons) MT (CSE) for 2007-08 and he paid the hostel fee also, but was not provided a decent accommodation. "First, he was kept in a room in Adarsh Nagar and then shifted to Anmol Palace on Garha Road, which had congested wooden cabinets, no ventilation and unhygienic food and drinking water," he said.

He added that there was no atmosphere to study due to outside noise, which echoed in the rundown accommodation. "I have raised the issue a number of times with the authorities, but no one paid heed," said Manvendra.

"Consequently, I become ill and suffered dehydration on October 12 last year, which is in records of the LPU clinic, from where I took treatment," he said, adding, "Later, I was admitted to Faridkot Civil Hospital."

His father said, "I wanted to withdraw my son from LPU hostel after 55 days of his joining and make paying guest arrangement. But the hostel fee was refunded, so I decided against it. I had deposited Rs 81,000, which included 31,500 as hostel fee." Dr Singh alleged due to apathetic attitude of LPU, his son could not continue his studies and his academic year was wasted.

Neerinder Singh Sandhu's saga is no different from Manvendra's. Due to unhygienic conditions in LPU hostel-2, he left his DE BT (Biotech) course. His father Paramjit Singh Sandhu said his son left the college within 24 days of his joining, and he had paid Rs 50,000 fee, which included hostel charges. However, LPU authorities have not refunded the fee to date.

He added that they were planning to file a case in the court along with a number of students. Aman Arora, who took admission in the BT MT (ECE) course and was living in a hostel in Khosla Hospital Building Complex, said, "There was no proper infrastructure for my course and I had paid Rs 70,000 fee for the first semester. Besides, the course was not approved by the AICTE. I left after 53 days."

Jitinder Singh of the same course had also left it after 79 days, as he fell ill after consuming unhygienic food.

Ashok Kumar Gakhar, father of Vishal Deep, who took admission in MSc Maths, alleged that his daughter died of brain-hemorrhage in LPU hostel some time back because of stress. The dejected father said immediately after the admission, she was kept in a hostel near Partap Bagh and then shifted to LPU Hostel in Honda Complex, near Phagwara bus stand.

Students also alleged that their original documents, which they had submitted at the time of admission, were also not returned.

LPU dean Rashmi Mittal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. However, LPU corporate head Aman Mittal claimed that they have good hostel facilities on as well as outside campus.

He said at the moment they have boys' hostels with 2,400-student capacity, while those for girls could accommodate 1,600. Besides, a new hostel to house about 5,000 students was almost ready, he added.

When asked why were they using marriage palaces and other commercial buildings as hostels, he claimed that it was on the demand of the students who wanted to live close to the city. He added that from the coming academic session, they would have hostels only on the campus.

About the unhygienic food and poor sanitation conditions, he said they were providing hygienic food and "if students are facing any problem, they can talk to the authorities."

When asked why the money was not refunded to the students who wanted to make their own boarding and lodging arrangement, he said it could be done within a month of joining.