Ready to pay Rs 250cr for fee reimbursement, govt tells HC

HYDERABAD: The state govt on Wednesday informed the Telangana high court that it was ready to pay Rs 250 crore to students towards fee reimbursement, and that colleges can collect fee from students.

The govt also urged the court to vacate an earlier stay order on GO no 9 pertaining to fee reimbursements issued on June 6.Colleges, meanwhile, objected to the offer and argued that at least 50% of the over Rs 2,800 crore pending dues should be released.Justice Juvvadi Sridevi adjourned the matter to Thursday for further hearing. “We will take a decision today (Thursday); whether to lift the stay on the GO or not,” said the judge.Appearing for the govt, senior lawyer Sri Raghuram and special govt pleader Rahul Reddy said, “Admissions are going to begin from July 10. But since colleges are saying they cannot give admission unless students pay the fee, there is a risk of poor students being deprived of education.” They urged the court to vacate the interim order.Representing the colleges, senior counsels Sriram, L Ravichander, Avinash Desai and Tarun G Reddy raised concern over the fate of colleges if the amounts deposited into students’ accounts are used by them for some other purposes instead of paying the fee.