Justice K. Lakshman declines relief to engineering colleges over fee enhancement

Justice K. Lakshman of Telangana High Court on Friday declined to permit the enhancement of annual fee for different courses by 12 engineering colleges.

Disposing of interim applications in the writ petitions filed by these colleges, the judge instructed TG EAPCET-2025 Convenor to inform the students that the fee paid by them would be subject to the final outcome of the writ petitions. This information should be conveyed to students by placing it on the Convenor’s official website or through any other mode, the judge said. The judge also directed the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) to complete consideration of the fee enhancement proposals put forward by the 12 colleges, fix them and send the same to the Principal Secretary of Higher Education within six weeks.

The petitioners (engineering colleges) raised several contentions over the government fixing existing annual fee for 2025-26 academic year, along with the minutes of the meeting held by TAFRC on June 6, ‘require detailed examination’ after the authorities file counter affidavits, the judge said.

The TAFRC, having received fee enhancement proposals and conducted hearing on the same, should have taken a call on the matter before the Convenor issued admission schedule. The Committee waited till June 18. Even the engineering colleges waited till July 10, the last date for exercising options following verification of certificates and freezing of options.

While the Convenor issued the final schedule on June 27, the Higher Education department issued orders fixing the fee on June 30. In this backdrop, ‘the petitioners failed to make out any prima facie case to grant interim order and there is no balance of convenience in their favour’, the judge said in the order.

Justice Lakshman noted that the HC cannot determine the fee. “It is impermissible. Such exercise will lead to usurping the statutory powers of TAFRC which will render it a toothless tiger,” the order said. The engineering colleges cannot approach the court on the last day of exercising options by students and file writ petitions by moving lunch motions, the judge observed.