The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) ordered state universities in Telangana to review fee violations by all the affiliated private engineering colleges over the past five years and to make sure that any student certificates held by the colleges be returned, in a meeting at New Delhi.
This follows a complaint filed by National Students' Union of India (NSUI) leaders D Rakesh and Hanumanth Naik of Moinabad, which highlighted that JB Institute of Engineering and Technology (JBIT) was collecting extra fees from students --- especially those from socially and economically weaker sections.
These amounts often exceeded the officially prescribed amounts, which violated Government Order Ms No. 37, issued on October 18, 2022, which placed caps on the maximum fees that Private and Unaided BTech Colleges in Telangana can collect from students.
Initially, the NCST responded by asking Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH), Osmania, and Kakatiya universities to ensure that engineering colleges under their affiliation strictly adhere to the prescribed fee structure.
Due to a lack of response from the colleges, the NCST convened a meeting regarding the above-mentioned issue, at an NCST Court Hall in New Delhi. This meeting was attended by the JNTU Hyderabad Registrar Dr K Venkateswara Rao, the Director of Autonomous College Affairs, and the Principal of JBIET with Jatothu Hussain Naik, member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
"It was found that JNTU officials, colluding with the JBIT management, provided false information to the Commission in an attempt to shield the college," NSUI alleged in a press release responding to the update. The students' organisation further added that these actions were further strongly condemned by Naik, member of the Commission.
Accordingly, the Vice-Chancellor of JNTU has been requested to instruct principals of all the affiliated colleges to follow the fee collection guidelines issued by the government.
The commission warned that colleges found violating the regulations and withholding any student certificates after the completion of the programme may face blacklisting, and their management may be subjected to strict actions from the State Higher Education Department.
