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Professional college tuition fee reimbursement for students belonging to weaker sections is turning out to be a bone of contention between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. With the governments of the two States holding contrasting views on the topic, the issue may soon land in a legal tangle.
The Telangana Government has categorically said it will not reimburse the fees of AP students who are pursuing their studies in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana. AP, on the other hand, has said it will reimburse the fees of Telangana students studying in the State, and expects its neighbour to do the same.
“The sudden stoppage of benefits and other parameters of education on disputable grounds is against the spirit of the AP Reorganisation Act and the appropriate legal recourse is being worked out,” a senior AP government official told Business Line here.
According to government data available for united Andhra Pradesh, there are about 5.7 lakh students belonging to economically weaker sections who were eligible to fee reimbursement.
This translates into a ₹5,000-crore burden on the State exchequer. It is estimated that approximately 40,000 AP students are in Telangana at present, in professional colleges.
Settlement of dues The stalemate is now on the issue of nativity and the settlement of dues for fee reimbursements that both the State Governments have to pay to college managements.
According to Telangana Education Minister Jagadish Reddy, a proposal to fix 1956 as the cut-off date to identify Telangana natives is under active consideration.
His government is not in favour of continuing the old system, he said.
Nativity will be fixed as a criterion for sanction of fresh reimbursements as well as payment of dues, he said in a meeting with the management of private engineering colleges here.
As the academic year has started, the Telangana Government is expected to provide clarity on the issue within a week.
Whether or not this is going to be challenged by the AP Government, the students stand to lose the most, as some colleges have already started asking them to pay a portion of the fee pending the final settlement of the issue.
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