Hyderabad: High Court directs govt to restore funding for Kamala Nehru Polytechnic College

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court directed the government to restore funding for the Kamala Nehru Polytechnic college for women on Saturday.

The High court ordered the government to pay financial support and grant-in-aid to several diploma courses that were discontinued by the Telangana State Board of Technical Education and Training (TSBTET) in April 2021.

A PIL was filed by child rights activist and Padma Shri awardee Professor Shantha Sinha who questioned the suspension of funds to the college functioning out of the Nampally Exhibition grounds. Lawyer Vasudha Nagraj, representing the activist argued that it was not fair to push the college to the brink of shut down. She highlighted that the college also requires 50 teachers to fill vacancies.

Expressing concerns over the government ordering closure of courses, Vasudha urged the government to pay attention to the dire straits the college is in. She further said that the government could redirect some amount of the Rs 3000 crore allocated to Shadi Mubarak and Kalyana Laxmi welfare schemes for this purpose.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili heard the arguments of the activist and the state government and directed it to pay attention to the request made by the college. “The government is under an obligation to support an exclusive girls’ polytechnic college to empower girls, particularly from poor background,” the bench remarked.