Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday temporarily lifted its stay on four guidelines of GO 9, issued on June 6, on fee collection and reimbursement, while directing that no fees be collected from students for the 2026-27 academic year.Modifying its earlier order, Justice Juvvadi Sridevi allowed colleges to continue admissions as usual. The court directed institutions to upload details of second, third and fourth-year students on the official portal within a week, following which the govt must release funds and clear their fees by July 31.For first-year students, the court fixed Aug 15 as the deadline for the govt to deposit the first instalment. If the deadline is missed, colleges would be permitted to collect fees directly from students.The interim orders were passed while hearing a vacate-stay petition filed by the state govt. More than 100 colleges had challenged GO 9, alleging that it violated a high court ruling delivered in April.Appearing for the colleges, senior advocates Sriram, L Ravichander and Avinash Desai opposed the govt’s plea, citing huge pending reimbursement dues since 2020. They told the court that arrears had crossed Rs 10,000 crore, affecting colleges’ ability to pay staff salaries.The counsel alleged that the govt had repeatedly issued GOs 7, 8 and 9 to delay payments despite earlier court directions. They questioned how colleges could recover dues from students who had already graduated.Representing the govt, senior advocate Sriraghuram and special GP Rahul Reddy said the state was committed to protecting the academic future of students from poor backgrounds. They informed the court that Rs 250 crore was being released immediately for students across all years and that the remaining first-phase amount would be cleared by Aug 15.They also assured that no student would face difficulties during admissions and that dues relating to senior batches would be addressed by the end of July.The court adjourned the matter to July 20.
