Court Questions Delay Despite Early Proposals
Hearing multiple petitions filed by private engineering colleges challenging the government's refusal to allow fee hikes, Justice K. Lakshman questioned why TAFRC couldn’t decide by June, despite receiving proposals back in December 2024. The court demanded that the fee register be produced immediately for verification.
Senior advocate Avinash Desai, representing the colleges, argued that proposals were submitted well in advance and were even discussed in TAFRC’s March meeting. He emphasized that the fee approval process had seen no meaningful progress since then.
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TAFRC Under Fire for Poor Planning
The High Court criticized TAFRC for pushing decisions until after counselling sessions begin, making fee clarity elusive for students. Even though the TAFRC committee is headed by a former High Court judge, the bench questioned why there’s still such a long delay in processing fee proposals.
Senior counsel Sriraghuram, representing TAFRC, said the colleges submitted voluminous documents (over 5,000 pages) and that the committee required more time to review them. He added that until a final decision is taken, the fees from the previous block period (2022–23 to 2024–25) are being followed.
However, he warned the court that granting interim approval for fee hikes may burden students, and “colleges will not refund the extra fee if the court later rules against them.”
Colleges Demand Up to 70% Fee Hike
Special Government Pleader Rahul Reddy informed the court that some colleges were demanding up to a 70% increase in fees, which could impact over 1.5 lakh students. He stated that it is the government’s role only to accept or reject TAFRC’s recommendations, and they are concerned about the student burden.
The court expressed its frustration with both the TAFRC’s inaction and colleges filing petitions via lunch motions, asking why the committee couldn’t finalize the fee structure earlier when proposals were submitted months ago.
Interim Orders Expected on Friday
The court stated it will issue interim orders on the fee hike issue on Friday. Meanwhile, it directed that Keshav Memorial’s petition be assigned to another bench.
CBIT Gets Green Signal for Fee Hike
In a separate development, Justice B. Vijayasen Reddy heard the petition filed by CBIT, challenging the rejection of their fee hike request. The court granted interim approval for the following new fee structure:
- B.E/B.Tech: ₹2,23,000
- M.Tech: ₹1,51,600
- MBA/MCA: ₹1,40,000
The court instructed TG EAPCET Convenor to reflect these updated fees in the admission portal and ruled that the fee structure would be applicable for the 2025–26 to 2027–28 block period. The next hearing is scheduled for July 30, 2025.
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