Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Monday directed the state govt to specify a date by which it would clear the long-pending fee reimbursement dues to private engineering colleges in the state.The court, while hearing a batch of petitions filed by engineering colleges, granted a final opportunity to the state govt to file detailed counter-affidavits explaining the timeline for clearance and other relevant details in petitions challenging specific clauses of a Govt Order (GO) issued on April 29 concerning the educational fee reimbursement mechanism.Justice Juvvadi Sridevi stated that a final opportunity was being given to the state to file counter-affidavits by the next date of hearing, particularly in view of the academic year 2026–27 beginning in July 2026, and adjourned the matter to June 24 for further hearing.During the hearing, the special govt pleader representing the state requested additional time to obtain the necessary instructions regarding specific clauses in the GO. These clauses involve issues including the settlement of outstanding dues for ST, BC, EBC, minority, and differently abled students for academic years up to 2025–26, and the transition to the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.Counsel for the petitioners submitted that the new academic year is set to commence in July 2026. Given the delay in the state filing its response, and noting that time had already been sought during the previous hearing on April 30, 2026, the petitioners collectively urged the court to extend the interim suspension of a specific clause which mandates that colleges shall not insist on payment of tuition and other fees from students at the time of admission. This interim relief had initially been granted on April 30.Taking note of the request and submissions from the state govt, the judge clarified that the counter-affidavits must be filed by the next hearing and directed that the interim suspension of the clause be extended until further orders.Meanwhile, a few students also approached the high court seeking to be impleaded as parties in the petitions, alleging that colleges were harassing them to clear fee dues.
