The State to release the fee reimbursement funds in four installments

The government has missed all the deadlines to make the payments in the fee reimbursement scheme. In September 2010, the Supreme Court directed the state to release the funds for the scheme in four installments.

In the first installment, 25 per cent of the total funds were to be paid within four weeks of the students taking admission.

The deadline ended on October 31, 2010, but the colleges are yet to receive the money though the government has been showing on paper in the form of GOs that `600 crore was released in January this year. Even if this were true, the first instalment amount should be `1,000 crore, so there is still a shortfall.

The apex court had also directed the state to pay another 25 per cent of the fees in the next four weeks and the remaining 50 per cent of the fee should be paid four months after the entire admissions process concludes. The second deadline too has expired on January 30 this year, without the government paying the amount due in the first instalment.

The government approached the SC earlier this week and sought some more time to release the funds saying that the ‘verification process of applications’ submitted by students was still going on. The court posted the case to February 14.

The college managements are planning to file a contempt of court case against the state government for failing to release the funds despite the court’s order.

“We cannot even pay the salaries of our staff for the last few months. Even if we want to run the colleges, it is not possible as faculty in several Colleges went on strike due to non-payment of salaries.

Either the government should pay the amount or it should allow us to collect the same from parents. We have no option but to close the colleges at this stage,” said Mr N. Ramesh, chairman, Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges Management Associations of AP