Hyderabad High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over the arguments and reports presented by Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee on the writ appeal filed by it over regulation of fee in private engineering colleges.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan said the report presented by AFRC was ‘hollow’. The Bench reserved orders on the matter. Citing enhanced expenditure for infrastructure and payment of salaries to both the teaching and the non-teaching staff, some private engineering colleges increased tuition fee for engineering students in 2016. Turning down the proposal, the Telangana AFRC suggested that the tuition fee be reduced.
Questioning the tuition fee suggested by the AFRC, the private engineering colleges moved the High Court. A single judge upheld the tuition fee suggested by the college managements for three academic years from 2016 (referred to as block period of 2016-19). Challenging the single judge order, the AFRC moved the Division Bench. As arguments resumed on Friday, the bench sought to know what was the procedure adopted by the AFRC to assess the fee structure and other issues. Not satisfied by the explanation given by the AFRC’s counsel, the Bench observed the report presented by the committee as “just a hollow document”.
As the AFRC’s counsel defended the fixation of the fee the committee suggested, the Chief Justice showered questions on him. “It is not clear who authored the report. It is abysmally a poor state of affairs,” he remarked. “What are the rules and procedures of the committee?” the bench asked.
Expressing discontentment over the counsel’s replies, the Judges said the counsel is asking them to become general secretaries or chartered accountants to assess the report presented by the committee. Finally, the bench reserved orders on the appeal.
