HYDERABAD: Suspending its interim stay on four provisions of GO Ms No. 9 relating to fee collection and reimbursement, the Telangana High Court on Thursday accepted the state government’s assurance that fee reimbursement dues would be released within a specified timeline.
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi, hearing a batch of over 100 writ petitions filed by private educational institutions challenging GO No. 9 issued on June 6, directed that no fees shall be collected from first-year students for the academic year 2026-27 until August 15. The court also ordered colleges to continue the admission process without insisting on payment of fees.
Recording the government’s undertaking, the court directed educational institutions to upload details of second, third and fourth-year students on the designated government portal within a week. The state was instructed to process the data and release fee reimbursement dues for these students by July 31. The government also assured the court that the first phase of reimbursement for first-year students would be released by August 15. The court observed that colleges would be free to collect fees only if the government failed to honour its commitment within the stipulated timeline.
The matter has been adjourned to August 20 for further hearing.
Appearing for the educational institutions, senior advocates S Sriram, L Ravichander and Avinash Desai opposed the government’s plea to vacate the interim stay.
They argued that the government had repeatedly failed to honour its commitments on fee reimbursement, with arrears mounting to nearly Rs 10,000 crore, including unpaid dues dating back to 2020.