TOI
The meeting, convened under the chairmanship of higher education department principal secretary Thulasi Maddineni, follows a Sept 17 Supreme Court order. The state has 28 private universities, one public-private university and 11 deemed varsities. The universities were asked to submit information and documents listed by the council in both hard and soft copies. However, not all submitted data, citing that some of them have huge enrolments and submitting such numbers could be cumbersome. The council also sought course-wise fee details, including development and special-event fees, along with admission rules, prospectus, merit and entrance records, student ledgers, fee receipts, refunds and scholarship details. The scrutiny extends to governance and functioning of universities. Institutions have been asked to furnish details of their sponsors, trusts or societies, board members, related-party transactions, remuneration and benefits, leases, procurement and service contracts, as well as invoices and payment records linked to such contracts. On the academic side, the council has sought information on course approvals and intake, question-paper preparation, examination conduct and answer-script evaluation. Details of staff recruitment, contracts, service rules, payroll, attendance, timetables and class registers have also been sought. Supreme Court had emphasised financial accountability and transparency in the functioning of private universities, including disclosure of funds generated and utilised, and payments made to non-operational individuals or governing board members.