HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the petitioners to implead the Higher Education, Social Welfare and Minority Welfare departments, and the Telangana State Council for Higher Education, in a PIL concerning non-release of scholarships and fee reimbursements.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin was hearing a PIL filed by the Association for Socio Economic Empowerment of the Marginalised and the Students Islamic Organisation, Telangana, represented by secretary SQ Masood.
The PIL highlighted hardships faced by students from economically weaker sections due to delays in scholarship disbursal and fee reimbursement. It sought directions to release pending scholarships, establish a grievance redressal mechanism, ensure the return of original certificates allegedly retained by colleges over unpaid dues, and disclose details of beneficiaries, funds released, pending claims and relevant government orders under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Additional Advocate General Md Imran Khan informed the court that the state government had already directed colleges not to withhold original certificates because of pending scholarship payments. He said efforts were being made to release scholarships for minority students as well as students from other communities.
The AAG argued that several departments and institutions involved in scholarship administration had not been made parties and that their impleadment would help place complete details of released and pending scholarships before the court. Counsel for the petitioners, Syed Mounis Abidi, expressed concern over the Finance department’s failure to provide complete information on scholarship funds.
