In yet another setback to the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, the state high court on Friday ordered that the reimbursement of fees under “Jagananna Vidya Deevena” (Fee reimbursement scheme) be done to the colleges but not to the mothers.
The high court gave a judgement to this effect after a prolonged hearing of the petitions filed by an advocate M Sri Vijay Kumar on behalf of Krishna Devaraya group of educational institutions.
For the last two years, the Jagan government has been crediting the total amount meant for reimbursement of fee for ITI, Polytechnic, Degree, Engineering and Medicine students into the accounts of their mothers, who would in turn pay them to the colleges.
But the petitioners argued in the court that the mothers were not paying the fee to the colleges as a result of which the colleges were not getting the fees due to be paid by the students.
The counsel for the government said the government was crediting the fee amount into the accounts of the students’ mothers and it was their responsibility to pay the fee to the colleges. The government had nothing to do with the payment of fees by the parents, he clarified.’
After hearing the arguments of both the sides, the high court directed that the government should reimburse the fee directly to the colleges and not to the mothers.
“Hereafter, the government should credit the amount to the accounts of the respective college principals,” the high court said.
Apparently, the court observed that there was a chance of the parents misusing the money given by the government towards Jagananna Vidya Deevena. If the amount is directly credited to the colleges, it would help the students continue their education without any hassles, the court said.
It will be interesting to see whether the Jagan government would go for an appeal to the Supreme Court against the high court judgement or implement the court order.