Two Hyderabad engineering colleges ordered to return excess fees collected from students

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday asked the management of two prominent engineering colleges in Hyderabad; the Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology (CBIT) and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology (MGIT), to reimburse excess fees that they had collected from their students. Around 2,000 students are expected to be reimbursed as a result of the order. According to media reports, for the 2016-19 batch, CBIT charged fees of Rs 2 lakh, instead of the fixed Rs 1.13 lakh per year, while students of MGIT paid fees of Rs 1.6 lakh per year, instead of Rs 1 lakh.  The court was hearing a petition by the Telangana Parents Association (TPA), which argued that the colleges had to follow rules set by the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC). The parents had also cited a Supreme Court judgement to back their argument.   Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a member of TPA  said that the managements of the colleges were not willing to listen and claimed that they were exempt from the earlier court order, which forced the parents to approach the court yet again. The colleges are expected to either reimburse the fees that were paid by the students, or adjust the amount to pay the fees of the students in the academic year of 2020-21. The issue of exorbitant fees being charged by engineering colleges in Hyderabad has been a long standing one, as students have been protesting on the issue since 2017. Meanwhile, several unaided private professional colleges in the state are lobbying for their demand, of a 15 to 20 percent hike in the fee structure for various courses. Earlier this year, the management of a group of private colleges moved the Telangana High Court to approve a fee hike and collect the revised fees that they had proposed. At the time, the court observed that as TAFRC had not yet zeroed in on a fee structure, the management could hike the fee until the regulatory body established its guidelines. The guidelines were finally issued in July this year. Read: Private engineering colleges in Telangana seek 15 to 20% increase in fee Now, Telangana govt engineering colleges want to hike fees