HYDERABAD: The Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TGBIE) has directed private junior colleges across the state to immediately return the original educational certificates of students, warning that institutions withholding documents over pending fee dues could face disaffiliation or even closure.
The directive comes in the wake of complaints that several private junior colleges have been withholding Transfer Certificates (TCs), study certificates, conduct certificates and bonafide certificates of students who have completed their Intermediate education, citing unpaid fees.
According to TGBIE officials, the practice could affect thousands of students at a crucial time when web counselling and certificate verification for admissions to engineering, degree, agriculture, pharmacy, nursing and other higher education courses are underway.
As students are required to produce original documents during the admission process, withholding certificates could prevent them from participating in counselling and jeopardise their chances of securing admission to higher education programmes.
Issuing mandatory directions to all private junior colleges, TGBIE officials said original certificates must be handed over to students immediately upon request. The board clarified that colleges cannot use students’ certificates as a means to recover pending fee dues. Any fee-related dispute or financial adjustment, the board said, must be addressed separately through lawful administrative communication with parents and should not disrupt a student’s academic progression.
The TGBIE warned that managements found refusing to return certificates could face immediate show-cause notices and proceedings for disaffiliation or closure of the institution, apart from other action deemed appropriate by the board.
District Intermediate Education Officers (DIEOs) have also been instructed to establish district-level help desks to receive complaints from students and parents, monitor violations and ensure that colleges comply with the directions without delay.
