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It’s been a long wait for MTech aspirants in Telangana as the government’s delay in fixing the fee structure for the course has left thousands of GATE rankers at the risk of losing scholarships from the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

The AICTE offers a monthly stipend of Rs 12,000 to Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE) rankers. While rankers have to submit the MTech course and college details to the AICTE before September 15, many are in a dilemma as the Telangana government has not initiated the web counselling process so far.

Although the Post Graduate Engineering Common Entrance Test (PGECET) was held on May 29, MTech aspirants have been waiting for the web counselling window to open since then. Even after three months, the Telangana government has not yet approved the fees fixed by the Telangana Admission Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) for MTech courses being offered by colleges in the state.

“The web counselling process was initiated by the government in July. It was abruptly halted after being postponed thrice. Now, we are clueless as to when it will begin,” said Vivek Potlapalli, an MTech aspirant.

Hassled candidates have been visiting the official website of PGECET for three months now only to find the window state – ‘Exercising web options will resume later.’

“There has been an inordinate delay on government’s part due to which many students would even prefer joining private colleges in other states,” said B Dakshinamurthy, professor at a private engineering college offering MTech.

According to sources, private colleges offering MTech had sought an increase in the fee structure. Earlier, the fee varied in the range of Rs 57,000 to nearly a lakh. While the TAFRC had sent the fixed fee structure to the Telangana government in June itself, the state government is yet to issue government orders for the same.

Officials claim that the orders are likely to be issued this week. “The government is likely to issue orders this week following which, web counselling will be resumed,” said Papi Reddy, Chairman of Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE).