HC permits private colleges to collect fees from students under fee reimbursement scheme

Supreme Court Justice Juvvadi Sridevi passed an interim order allowing private engineering colleges to collect tuition fees directly from students eligible for the fee reimbursement scheme from the academic year 2026-27 in case the government fails to refund the fees to the colleges.

Describing the decision as an ‘interim measure’, the judge made it clear that private colleges must refund tuition fees to the students concerned if their writ petitions are rejected during the final decision. The decision was passed after hearing arguments in a batch of 14 writ petitions filed by different private colleges.