New Delhi / Hyderabad, Feb. 14: The Supreme Court on Monday rapped the AP government for not honouring its commitment to reimburse the fees of students from poor and socially weaker sections, and gave it a week to come back with a positive response.
A bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik said that once the state has notified a welfare measure, it could not back out. “If you (government) have announced a subsidy to the SC, ST and EBC students, you have to honour it,” the apex court observed. It should have not announced the scheme if it was not in a position to pay the fee, the court told the government’s counsel, Mr Nageshwar Reddy.
According Ms Bina Madhavan, counsel for Consortium of Engineering College Managements, the state had not reimbursed the colleges for 2008-09 and 2009-10, and the arrears amounted to `3,500 crore.
The developments buoyed BC, SC, ST and EBC unions who have threatened to launch an “Egypt-style movement” to force the government to pay up.
The college managements are gearing up to build pressure on the government to secure 50 per cent of the total arrears immediately and the rest by the end of April.
The strong indictment of the government came while the court was hearing its appeal against an AP High Court order upholding the validity of the “convenor quota” under which 90 per cent of the students belonging to SC, ST and EBC sections were entitled to reimbursement of fees in 700 engineering colleges.
The apex court had admitted the government’s SLP about four months back, and had given it four weeks to make its stand clear. On Monday the court was infuriated as the state was not ready to give a clear commitment regarding the payment.