Hyderabad: Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the Hyderabad High Court on Friday allowed the government to carry out checks in private colleges but made it clear that police personnel in uniform will not accompany the inspection teams.
The court said inspections must be carried out by the officials of the education department. They can be accompanied by a sub-inspector from the vigilance department and two constables in plainclothes for protection.
The judge said the inspections will be confined to records pertaining to 2015-16. The judge was dealing with a plea filed by Bhavita Degree College and four others.
Mr J. Ramachandra Rao, additional advocate general, told the court that the government had decided to form police teams to inspect colleges after noticing irregularities in claiming fee reimbursement and scholarships.
The judge said, “Do you know what exactly you are doing. Why are the DGP, ACB and vigilance department required for inspections? If you don’t trust your own education department, it is better to wind it up.” The judge asked the AAG under which law could the police inspect an educational institution? He cautioned that no one can violate the law in the name of extending good governance, and posted the case to June 16.
Earlier, the government sought the intervention of a division bench to vacate a stay issued by a single judge on the inspections.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao after perusing the appeal pointed out that the single judge had not granted any interim order; he had only recorded the statement of government counsel that there would be no inspection till Friday.
When the AAG said that the single judge mentioned the stay in the docket, the bench refuted the contention and said it was not inclined to entertain the appeal and told him to argue before the single judge.
