Telangana high court seeks robust grievance redressal for students over withheld certificates

Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday directed the state govt to put in place a robust grievance redressal mechanism to address complaints from students whose original academic certificates are being withheld by educational institutions over non-payment of pending scholarships and fee reimbursements.A bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin issued the direction while hearing a PIL filed on behalf of students from economically weaker sections who are unable to pursue higher education due to delays in the release of govt scholarships. The court asked the govt to establish the mechanism before the next date of hearing and adjourned the matter by three weeks.Appearing for the petitioner, Syed Mounis Abidi, counsel for the Association for Socio Economic Empowerment of the Marginalised and Students Islamic Organisation (ASEEM), a Hyderabad-based NGO, expressed concern over the finance department’s failure to disclose details of funds released towards scholarships. He also highlighted the absence of an effective system to address students’ grievances despite directions issued by the court during the previous hearing.Responding to the submissions, additional advocate general Mohammed Imran Khan informed the bench that the state govt had issued clear instructions to educational institutions not to retain students’ original certificates on the ground that scholarship amounts were yet to be released.“The govt’s endeavor is to release scholarships, not only to the students belonging to the minority community but other students also,” contended Khan.He further submitted that there was a need to implead the higher education department, social welfare department and minority welfare department as parties to the PIL, as several institutions were not responding at the ground level and these departments were not currently part of the proceedings.“Impleading these departments in the PIL will result in furnishing all details of scholarships released to the eligible students, pending bills expeditiously,” added Khan.