The four top engineering colleges in Telangana have moved the Hyderabad High Court against the fee structure fixed by the Telangana Admission Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) for the block period 2016 to 2019. The list includes Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology and Vasavi College of Engineering and Technology.

The Telangana government earlier this month declared the fee structure for all engineering colleges. While a majority of colleges agreed upon the fee structure fixed by the government, the top engineering colleges were irked by the decision. While the CBIT is the only engineering college from Telangana to have made it to the list of top 100 colleges in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, the management expressed its discontent on the fee structure fixed by the state government. “The TAFRC increased the fees by only Rs 200 for the three year block period. While the fee structure was Rs 1,13,300 last year, the government has increased it up to Rs 1,13,500 this year. It is unfair as we are in no position to pay our teachers as per the 7th pay commission,” said Malakonda Reddy, president of CBIT Society.

Similar reasons were given by other engineering colleges as they claimed how the government has failed to consider additional expenses that the management incurs.

With the colleges moving court, the fee to these four colleges is now subjected to the outcome of the HC. In a notification issued by the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTU-H), the Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) convenor NV Ramana Rao has clarified that students will have to pay the differential amount depending on the outcome of the writ petitions filed by the colleges. “There shall be an interim direction to the convenor that, while giving admissions, shall notify students about their impending liability to pay the differential amount, if any, depending on the result of the writ petitions. In addition, the petitioner-managements are entitled to obtain an undertaking from each of the students to the same effect,” reads the HC order.

The JNTU-H has extended the date for exercising web options for engineering seats to July 28. As per the official data provided by the Eamcet convenor, there are total 25,862 seats vacant in the final phase of counselling out of which 23,418 are engineering seats. Seats for the final phase will be allotted on Friday (July 29) and students have to report at respective colleges on July 31. Classes for engineering courses are scheduled to begin from August 1.