Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has ruled that a private engineering college cannot withhold a student’s original academic certificates to recover pending fees, directing the institution to immediately return the documents to a student who had dropped out of his BTech course.
A single-judge bench of Justice Juvvadi Sridevi, while allowing a writ petition filed by Ch Muralidhar against the Siddhartha Institute of Technology and Sciences in Hyderabad, held that original certificates are the personal and academic property of the student and no institution has the authority to retain them.
“Even assuming that the college has any monetary claim against the petitioner, withholding his original certificates cannot be adopted as a mode of enforcing such a claim. The proper remedy, if any available to the college, is to proceed in accordance with law for recovery of its dues,” the court observed.
The petitioner had enrolled in BTech (Mechanical Engineering) at the college, which retained his original documents, including SSC memo, Intermediate marks memo, transfer certificate, study and conduct certificates and bona fide certificates, at the time of admission.
According to the petitioner, he attended classes for only about 15 days before a quarrel broke out on September 21, 2025, in which senior students allegedly attacked him and his friends. Following the incident, one of the seniors died by suicide and a case was registered against the petitioner, after which he discontinued his studies and returned to his parents’ home in Khammam district.
When he sought the return of his certificates, the college refused to accept even his application and instead demanded payment of fees for the remaining three years of the course. A subsequent application sent through registered post with acknowledgement (RPAD) on February 4 this year was received by the college the following day but elicited no response, the petitioner told the court.
His counsel argued that the certificates were essential for the petitioner to seek employment and earn a livelihood, and that no dues were pending against him.
The court noted it was “not in dispute” that the petitioner had submitted his original certificates at admission and had since discontinued the course. It held the college’s retention of the documents to be “wholly unjustified” and directed their immediate return.
The writ petition was accordingly allowed.
