Telangana High Court tells Inter Board to shut 68 Chaitanya and Narayana colleges

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the state Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) to close 68 colleges of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana group that were admitting students without getting affiliation from BIE.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Annireddy Abhishek Reddy ordered BIE to close the colleges after March 28, immediately after the completion of public examinations.

A compliance report is to be submitted to the court by April 3. The bench was dealing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on BIE’s inaction over the violation of rules by these two groups relating to fire safety and sanitation, etc.

On February 17, the court had berated BIE officials and expressed doubt over connivance between the officials and the institutions, when it learnt that no action was taken against the colleges for admitting more than 29,800 students without getting affiliation.

The court was furious with BIE for allowing those



colleges to conduct classes on just an undertaking that no classes will be conducted in the buildings that were not compliant with fire safety norms. With this background, the Bench ordered BIE to take steps against these colleges and to submit a report by February 25. However, BIE came to the court on Thursday and submitted that it had issued show-cause notices to the colleges for closure, and asked the court for time to initiate steps.

An infuriated Bench prepared to issue closure orders. A. Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel for the state representing BIE, submitted that these 68 colleges that have no fire NOC were chosen as examination centers for the intermediate exams from March 4 to 28. He said their closure would disrupt the examination schedule.

Convinced, the Bench directed BIE to close the colleges after completion of examinations. The court also directed BIE to inform it of the number of colleges inspected by the fire department and condition of those colleges. The case was adjourned to April 7 for further hearing.