HYDERABAD: Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Friday declined to grant interim relief to various engineering colleges and their managements, which filed a batch of writ petitions challenging GO 26, which mandates the continuation of the existing fee structure for the academic years 2025-26 to 2027-28. The said GO was issued by the Higher Education department and the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulation Committee (TAFRC) on June 30, 2025.
“This court cannot determine the fee in exercise of its extraordinary powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is impermissible. Such exercise will lead to usurping the statutory powers of the TAFRC and render it a toothless tiger. Therefore, it is only for TAFRC to determine the fees structure,” he said.
The court also ordered that the TAFRC shall complete the entire exercise of consideration of proposals submitted by the petitioners, determine the fee and send it to the government within six weeks.
The petitioners contended that the GO unfairly extended the fee applicable during the previous block period (AY 2022-23 to AY 2024-25) to the current block period, despite TAFRC’s prior determination and approval of revised fee proposals submitted by the colleges.
Senior advocate Avinash Desai, representing the engineering colleges, argued that the fee hike proposals were submitted in December 2024 and accepted by TAFRC during its meeting in March 2025. Desai asserted that the proposals were officially documented in the committee’s register and requested the court to review the same.
While denying interim relief, the court directed TAFRC to finalise and fix the fee structure for the new block period within six weeks from the date of the order. Additionally, it was clarified that any hiked fees collected from students would be subject to the final outcome of the main petitions. The Convenor, TG EAPCET 2025 directed to inform the same to the students by placing an appropriate circular on its official website or any other mode. The court instructed the respondents, including the Higher Education department and TAFRC, to file their counter-affidavits, and adjourned the matter to August 12, 2025 for final hearing.
Commissioner’s directive to TAFRC
Following the high court’s directive, Commissioner of Technical Education A Sridevasena on Friday directed the TAFRC to conclude the entire exercise of consideration of proposals submitted by the colleges, determine the fee and send it to the government for the issue of fees notification within six weeks.