Hyderabad, September 03: “The State government will go to Supreme Court, if necessary, challenging the High Court verdict to compulsorily pay tuition fee to the private colleges either by the student or by the government at the time of admission to the courses”, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Pilli Subashchandra Bose, has said.
Speaking to mediapersons after the Cabinet sub-committee meeting on delivery of tuition fees and scholarships, Mr Subashchandra Bose said that that they have discussed about the tuition fees and scholarships arrears of the last year and the verdict of the High Court that the fees should be paid to the private colleges at the time of admission into the course.
Reminding that there were some rules and guidelines for tuition fee reimbursement, Mr Bose opined that the verdict of the High Court had some contradictions. The Law Department was yet to examine the ruling of the court. The Chief Secretary has been asked to hold a meeting with the Advocate General and the Law Secretary to discuss the matter.
The government would take appropriate steps to see that no injustice was done to the students this academic year, he clarified. The Cabinet Sub-committee would meet on Tuesday to take a final decision on the matter, he added. Stating that out of Rs 2,093-crore arrears of tuition fee reimbursement in the last year, an amount of Rs 1,704 crores has already been released. The remaining arrears would be cleared soon, he assured.
The Minister for Panchayat Raj, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana, said that the government would take responsibility of bearing tuition fees of the eligible students. Answering to a query on the issuance of notices to students by the managements of private colleges for payment of fee, Mr Satyanarayana observed that it has not come to the notice of the government. If anyone, lodges a specific complaint, action would be taken against the erring private colleges, he added.
The minister also disclosed that the officials brought to their notice at the meeting that some 85,000 accounts of the students were duplicate and were not tallying and some colleges have already drawn Rs 95 lakhs in this regard. The officials concerned have been directed to recover the amount from the managements of private colleges. The officials would also examine whether private colleges withdrew the amount intentionally or was it a mistake in the online system.
The Minister for Tribal Welfare, Mr P. Balaraju, and the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mr Parthasarathi were also present. (NSS)