Fate of 45,000 JNTU students hangs in balance

Hyderabad, Nov 2: Around 45,000 students of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) in Hyderabad may not be able to appear for their exams slated to start from today as the university and affiliated colleges failed to reach an accord on the common service fee. According to the university officials, practical exams scheduled to begin from today, may get disrupted as JNTU has not released answer sheets and other stationary for the exams. The fate of semester exams to be held from November 9 also hangs in balance as the colleges failed to reach an accord with the university on payment of Rs 40 crore as common service fee. Colleges collect common service fee from students during admission time under which hall tickets, records, stationary and other infrastructural facilities are provided to students. Until 2011, common service fee was a part of fee reimbursement, but it was later withdrawn. Due to the delay in fee reimbursement, several colleges have failed to clear the dues. In a meeting held recently the university asked the colleges to pay at least 1/4th of the dues. According to reports, 100 colleges failed to pay back the dues. Meanwhile, the dispute has put the students in a fix.