The Telangana High Court on Thursday issued an interim order suspending a specific clause in a recent government order (GO) that mandated colleges should not collect tuition fees and other charges from students at the time of admission.
Court's Interim Direction
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi passed the directions while hearing a petition filed by a group of engineering colleges. The colleges alleged that the latest order issued on April 29 directly contradicted an earlier court mandate issued on April 2. The court had previously issued interim directions allowing colleges to collect tuition fees directly from students starting from the 2026-2027 academic year, covering students across the state belonging to SC, ST, EBC, BC, MW, and other categories covered under the state government's fee reimbursement scheme.
Petitioners' Arguments
During the proceedings on Thursday, counsel for the petitioner-institutions informed the court that the government issued the new GO instead of providing a clear timeline for the payment of admitted dues under the fee reimbursement scheme. The petitioners contended that the clause, which required students to pay fees only after receiving them through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode, undermined the court's previous permission for institutions to collect tuition fees directly from students. The special government pleader appearing for the state acknowledged that the newly issued clause appeared to be at odds with the court's interim order from early April, while requesting time till May 4 to obtain further instructions from the government regarding the GO and to provide a timeline for clearing pending payments for which tokens have already been generated.
Court's Observations
After reviewing the submissions, the court expressed a prima facie view that the challenged clause ran contrary to its earlier directions. The bench observed that the issuance of a GO conflicting with existing court mandates was a serious matter and ordered an interim suspension of the specific clause until the next hearing on May 4.
Background of the Government Order
On Wednesday, the government issued the GO stating that the fee reimbursement (scholarship amount) — tuition fee (RTF) and maintenance fee (MTF) — would be credited directly into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of eligible students from the 2026-27 academic year. The order added that the students shall, in turn, pay the fee to the institutions out of the amount credited to their accounts through DBT. The order further clarified that the new guidelines would apply only to students admitted from the 2026-27 academic year, while those admitted earlier would continue under the existing system. It also stated that all pending dues payable to institutions up to the 2025-26 academic year would be cleared under the existing reimbursement mechanism, and the shift to DBT would not affect these liabilities.
