Educational institutions cannot withhold students' original certificates due to unpaid fees, affirming that certificates are the property of the student.

ORDER :

Heard Sri Y.V.S.S. Siva Sarma, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, learned Government Pleader for General Administration appearing on behalf of respondent No.1, learned Government Pleader for Higher Education, appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.2 and 3, Sri Malipeddi Srinivas Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for JNTU appearing on behalf of the respondent No.4 and Sri Sai Babu, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent No.5.

2. The petitioners approached the Court seeking prayer as under:

“…to issue an appropriate Writ, Order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the Respondents No.5 in withholding the Petitioners original Certificates as illegal, unjust and violation of principles of natural justice and restrain the institution/Colleges from withholding original certificate due to outstanding amounts for the Government or any including unpaid fees and regulations mentioned under Rule 2(F)(6) and Rule.4 issued by UGC notification vide file No.14- 4/2012(CPP-1) in October 2018 and Cir. No. JNTUH/DAAA/Students/Fee Reimbursement/2024, Dated 07/03/2024 an violations issued by Respondent No.4 and AITCE Circular F.No.1- 101/DPG/AITCE/Regulations/2019 vide letter dated 23.09.2019 and violation of Article. 14, 19 and 21 of Constitution of India, Consequently direct the Respondents to issue all the Original Certificates including Long Memo, Study Conducts, Transfer Certificate of SSC, Intermediate, all Semesters Memo, Transfer Certificate, Study Conduct, and Bonafide Certificates along Provisional and Consolidated Marks Memos of Engineering are holding with Respondent No.5 and pass”.

3. The case of the petitioners in brief as per the averments made by the petitioners in the affidavit filed by the petitioners in support of the present writ petition is as under:

i) The Petitioners had studied in Respondent No. 5 College- i.e., the Guru Nanak Institutions (GNIT), H.S.Saini Ibrahimpatnam, R.R. District pursuing Engineering under the Government Fee Reimbursement Scheme.

ii) Upon completion of courses, the petitioners approached the college for collection of Original Certificates including Long Memo, Study Conducts, Transfer Certificate of SSC, Intermediate, all Semesters Memo, Transfer Certificate, Study Conduct, and Bonafide Certificates along with Provisional and Consolidated Marks Memos of Engineering. However, the authorities of Respondent No. 5 college refused to release the certificates on the ground that the Government of Telangana had not yet released the pending fee reimbursement amounts.

iii) The respondent No.5-College is demanding full payment of fees from students, contrary to AICTE regulations and directions issued by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education, which clearly prohibit withholding of certificates. Aggrieved by the action of the respondents, the petitioners filed the present writ petition.

4. PERUSED THE RECORD

(A) The letter vide Lr.No.0508/ TGCHE/Refund of Originals/2024, dated 05.08.2024 issued by the Telangana Council of Higher Education, Hyderabad addressed to the Registrars of OU, KU, TU, MGU, SU, PU, JNTU, JNAFAU & TMVV is extracted hereunder:

“Sir,

Sub:- TGCHE Withholding of Original Certificates of the Students – Instructions to the Universities/Colleges- Regarding.

Ref:- This office Lr. No. TGCHE/Fee Reimbursement /2024, dt.23.02.2024

While referring to the subject and reference cited that in continuation of earlier letter, it has come to the notice of the Government that certain private colleges are withholding the original cert