Housemaid cheers as TSBIE agrees to pay her daughter’s fees

Hyderabad: When Good Samaritans come together for a cause that ensures that the desire of a girl from the lower strata to keep pursuing her education, miracles can happen.

An individual who can vouch for this is M. Shivaleela, a house-maid, who could not afford to pay Rs 25, 000 late fee to appear for her Intermediate examinations, which are slated for later this month.

Determined to have her daughter write the exams, she approached the High Court on February 12 urging them to direct the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) to grant her daughter permission to write the exams despite not paying the exorbitant amount.

Moved by her plight, a judge from the High Court, P Vinod Kumar, agreed to pay the amount. Others in the noble mission were an advocate, who offered to represent her case; a typist wiling to type her petition and the clerk who offered to file and get the petition numbered, all free of any professional fees.

However, in Monday’s hearing, the Board maintained that they had not asked for Rs 25,000 as late fee. The TSBIE submitted to the Court that “The Board had already considered the request made by the petitioner considering her economic conditions. Board secretary has remitted the Examination Fee with Late Fee Rupees 3,470 (Late fee Rupees 3,000+ 470= Rs 3,470) as a Special and Exceptional case, limiting to this candidate.”

TSBIE has agreed to allow the student to appear for the examination.

The Board stated that penalty is being levied from private junior colleges for not submitting the fees of students on time. “As these managements (mainly private junior colleges), who have made a habit of coming at the last moment every year and exploiting in the name of student’s career, which is creating a lot of trouble to the Board, are proposed to be levied a hefty deterrent penal amount for not showing responsibility,” said the Board.

The advocate Ravi Kumar Vadlakonda, who had attended the case said, “The TSBIE had filed a counter affidavit, but ultimately they had to pay for the exam fees from their own pocket. In our representation, we had mentioned how the Chief Controller of Examinations had asked for Rs 25,000.”

A senior clerk at the High Court, Lakku Amar Nath, who offered his services free of cost said, “This is certainly happy news for us. The Board has considered her case on humanitarian grounds and remitted her examination fees. It is good that they have understood the value of a student’s time and intervened in such a manner.”