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2025 Supreme(Telangana) 989
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
SUREPALLI NANDA, J.
Mr. Syed Azhar Ali – Appellant
Versus
The State of Telangana – Respondent
Writ Petition No. 25816 of 2025
Decided On : 13-10-2025
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : MOHAMMED ASIF
For the Respondent: GP FOR EDUCATION
Educational institutions may not retain students' original certificates as leverage for fee payment; such practices violate constitutional rights and relevant regulations.
Headnote:(A) Constitution of India - Articles 14, 21, and 300A - UGC (Grievance Redressal of Students) Regulations 2018 - Withholding of original certificates by educational institutions - The Court held that such actions were illegal, arbitrary and violated natural justice principles. (Paras 3, 8-9, 12)
(B) Authority to Withhold Certificates - Educational institutions cannot withhold certificates as a leverage for the payment of fees; such actions are impermissible in law. (Paras 6-7)
Facts of the case:
The petitioner, enrolled in a private college for an M.Tech program, sought the release of his original certificates withheld by the college despite multiple representations urging them to return the documents, citing violations of legal rights and regulations.
Findings of Court:
The Court ruled that original certificates are property of the student and cannot be withheld under any pretext, reaffirming prior judgments and orders against similar practices.
Issues: The primary issues included the legality of withholding educational certificates and the relevant regulations governing such practices.
Ratio Decidendi: The court concluded that withholding a student's certificates was unacceptable under law, emphasizing that such documents remain with the student regardless of any financial claims by the institution.
Result: Writ Petition allowed, directing the college to return the original certificates within one week.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. withholding of original certificates is impermissible. (Para 2 , 3) |
| 2. legal precedents on certificate retrieval rights. (Para 4 , 6) |
| 3. court must enforce rules against certificate withholding. (Para 5 , 7 , 8) |
ORDER :
1. Heard Sri Mohammed Asif, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Education, appearing on behalf of respondent Nos. 1 to 5.
2. The petitioner approached the Court seeking prayer as under:
“…to issue any appropriate Writ, Order or direction, more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ order or direction declaring the actions of Respondents No 3 to 5 in withholding the Petitioner’s original certificates even after issuing representations dated 09.06.2025 and 03.07.2025 as illegal, ex-facie, arbitrary, unjust, unfair, unlawful, unconstitutional, non application of mind and in violation of Principles of Natural Justice and in violation of Article 14, 21 and 300A of the Constitution of India and the directives issued by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education TSCHE dated 23.02.2024 and against the catena of judgments of this Honourable Court and in violation of The UGC Grievance Redressal of Students Regulations 2023 and consequently direct the Respondents here in to Consider the representations dated 09.06.2025 and 03.07.2025 and to release all the original certificates of the Petitioner immediately and without demanding any additional payment in the interest of justice...”
3. The case of the petitioner in brief as per the averments made in the affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of the present writ petition is as under:
The petitioner had taken admission into the college of respondent No.5 in M. Tech., Software engineering Program in the year 2014. The petitioner did not appear for the first semester examination and was not eligible to proceed to further semesters. At the time of admission, the petitioner had submitted his original educational documents/certificates such as Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Intermediate Certificate, B.Tech Marks Memo, CMM, Provisional Certificate, Degree Certificate, Transfer Certificate etc., which are retained by the respondent No.5 and in the possession of the respondent No.5. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed this present writ petition.
4. PERUSED THE RECORD:
(A) The directions issued by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education, Hyderabad with regard to Original Certificates of the Students is extracted hereunder:
PROF. SRIRAM VENKATESH
SECRETARY
Lr. No. TSCHE/Fee Reimbursement/ 2024 Dated 23.02.2024
To
The Registrars of
OU, KU, TU, MGU, SU, PU, JNTU and JNA & FAU
Sir,
Sub: TSCHE – Withholding of Original Certificates of the Students – instructions to the Colleges – Reg.
.............
It has come to the attention of the Government that certain private colleges are withholding the original certificates of students on the pretext of not receiving fee reimbursement from the Government.
Withholding of original certificates will have significant implications for the students, especially when they need to present these documents to join for higher education, applying or joining for jobs and other purposes.
Further, in terms of UGC (Grievance Redressal of students) Regulations 2018 the colleges are barred from withholding or refusing to return any document in the form of certificates of degree, diploma or any other award or other document deposited with it by a students for the purposes of seeking admission in such institutions, with a view to induce or compel such student to pay any fee or fees in respect of any course or program of study which such student does not intend to pursue.
Therefore, I am by direction request the Universities to address/ instruct to all affiliated Private Colleges under its jurisdiction not to insist payment of Tuition Fee from the students who are eligible for fee reimbursement and not to deny issuing original certificates on th
