Certificates ‘property’ of students, can’t deny it citing ‘unpaid fees’: Telangana High Court

The Telangana High Court has ruled that colleges cannot deny students their original educational certificates simply because of unpaid tuition fees. The court held that educational certificates are the property of the students and cannot be retained by the college. In a recent case, three BTech graduates sought the return of their original certificates from a college in Telangana.

The college had withheld the certificates, claiming it needed the money to recover tuition fees that had not yet been reimbursed by the government. The graduates had already lost an academic year, as admissions to postgraduate courses were closing soon. If the original certificates were not returned immediately, the graduates faced the risk of missing out on the opportunity to pursue higher education.

The court held that the college had no authority to retain the certificates after the graduates completed their course and that such retention was unlawful and unjustified. The college was directed to return the certificates to the graduates immediately upon receiving a copy of the court order.