Colleges can’t keep certificates: PIL

A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Telangana High Court seeking to direct all educational institutions in the state that withholding of original certificates of students was illegal and also amounted to extortion and cheating under IPC.

The NGO, ‘Forum against Corruption’ has filed the petition alleging that “original certificates” of several students had been withheld by the managements of colleges’ and they claimed that they would release the certificates only after the state government released funds under the Fee Reimbursement Programme. The petitioner NGO brought to the notice of the court that the police had not registered FIRs and other government authorities had not taken action against college managements despite the UGC notification issued on December 6, 2016, which explicitly prohibited colleges/educational institutions from withholding original certificates of students during the admission process.

The petitioner also sought for directions to the Telangana State Council for Higher Education to constitute a complaint cell or helpline number for the benefit of students in this regard since no such mechanism was available to file a complaint with the docket number. Time-bound resolution was also required for the complaints received on the helpline or website, the petition said.