Page 18 - EW July 2025_Neat

Education News

bility of the state,” says a professor of Most academics in AP have wel- ‘Seat blocking’ is the outcome of
education at the Stella Maris College, comed Naidu’s renewed focus on a complicated government-designed
Vijayawada who prefers to remain critically important inclusive K-12 admission process for private
anonymous. education for EWS households. The engineering colleges in the heyday
There is some substance in this consensus is that given his can-do of Nehruvian licence-permit-quota
apprehension. According to the AP track record in previous terms as chief raj. Following a Supreme Court
Socio-Economic Survey for 2024- minister, there are high chances of judgement in Unnikrishnan’s Case
25, Andhra Pradesh is experiencing Talliki Vandanam attaining its laud- (1993), 50 percent of seats in private
“tremendous financial stress due to able objectives. professional colleges were reserved
shrinking of revenue base, bludgeon- Priyanka Edupuganti (Hyderabad) for students topping government
ing (sic) expenses, increase in estab- CETs (common entrance tests) who
lishment costs, interest payments, KARNATAKA paid way-below-cost fees, another 30
welfare commitments and loss of cap- percent were reserved at a slightly
ital city as a major commercial hub” Control-command higher price point determined by
— the latter a reference to the loss of government, leaving a mere 20
Hyderabad as a shared capital after outcome percent to be priced by institutional
the city of pearls accrued to Telan- managements.
gana as its admin capital in 2024, fol- fficials of the enforce- However after liberalisation and
lowing the division of united Andhra ment Directorate (ED) con- deregulation of the Indian economy
Pradesh into two separate states in Oducted raids at multiple loca- in 1991, in T.M.A. Pai vs. Union of
2014. Moreover, according to a 2024 tions across Bengaluru on June 25 India (2002), a full bench of the
Reserve Bank of India report, AP is and 26 while investigating an alleged apex court overruled its own verdict
among the most fiscally fragile states ‘seat blocking’ admissions scam in in the Unnikrishnan Case and held
in India with its debt-GSDP ratio the state’s 254 private engineering that unaided (independent) private
exceeding 32 percent (cf. the recom- colleges. Among the locations raided professional education institu-
mended 25 percent) and its 2025-26 tions have a fundamental
fiscal deficit budgeted at 4.9 percent of right to administer their
GSDP (gross state domestic product). own institutions, including
owever, it is important to note prescribing their admission
Hthat TDP leader Chandrababu processes and tuition fees.
Naidu is not responsible for the cur- But subsequently, in two
rent fiscal distress of Andhra Pradesh. successive judgements (Is-
The state's economic fragility is largely lamic Academy (2003) and
a result of unchecked debt accumula- P.A. Inamdar vs. State of
tion, unproductive expenditure, and Maharashtra (2005)), the
fiscal mismanagement under the pre- apex court diluted its TMA
vious YSR Congress Party government Pai Case judgement and
led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The allowed state governments
Naidu government has inherited these to constitute fees-fixation
liabilities and is now tasked with sta- CET scene: complicated admissions process committees to ensure fees
bilising the economy. That said, Nai- charged by private profes-
du’s earlier terms as chief minister are were campuses of the city’s top- sional colleges are “reasonable”.
widely acknowledged for disciplined ranked BMS College of Engineering, With the T.M.A. Pai judgement
fiscal management, visionary infra- Akash Institute of Engineering and having permitted professional col-
structure planning, and reforms in Technology and New Horizon Col- leges to determine their own admis-
digital governance. lege of Engineering, and residences/ sion processes subject to admitting
Despite the challenging finan- offices of independent education students on merit, in 2004 private
cial environment, the Chandrababu consultants and “blocking agents”. colleges grouped under the banner of
Naidu-led government has not only According to ED investigators, the Consortium of Medical, Engi-
revived two massive development they recovered Rs.1.37 crore in cash, neering and Dental Colleges of Kar-
projects — Amaravati (the greenfield several incriminating documents and nataka (Comed-K) began conduct-
capital city) and Polavaram (a critical digital devices from the premises ing a common entrance test for its
irrigation and drinking water lifeline) of these engineering colleges which 198-member institutions. However,
— but has also introduced Talliki Van- they proclaimed are proceeds of conducting this didn’t go down well
danam. malfeasance. with the state government. Under a

18 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2025