Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court directed Registrar of Osmania University to take a pragmatic decision on detaining engineering students who did not clear their backlog so that the students do not lose an academic year.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was disposing of an appeal by Mohammed Nouman Javed and other engineering students challenging an order of a single judge in rejecting their plea to direct the varsity to allow them to appear for the main examinations.

Dr K. Lakshmi Naras-imha, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that earlier the HC had directed the university and private engineering colleges to permit these students to attend classes and also allow them to take the main and supplementary examination.

Later, all the petitions were dismissed holding that as per the regulations of the university, a student must not be permitted to be promoted to the next year unless his/her back log subject are less than 12.

He said the examination had commenced from December 8 and permitting them to attend the main examination at this stage will not arise since the examinations have already started.

The bench observed, “Because of the passage of time, this matter has become outdated. However, the problem here is a perennial one. So, we feel the university authorities will consider ways to sort out this problem in the future.”

Complaint over AP land pooling

A complaint was lodged before the AP Lokayukta on Friday seeking investigation into proposed land pooling by the AP government for building a new capital Mannam Sudheer Kumar, a social activist from Ongole district lodged the complaint alleging that the government has proposed the land pooling in Tulluru, Mangalagiri and other mandals of Guntur district, against the wishes of the farmers. He alleged that the private patta holders are being threatened in the name of capital development.

Entertainment centre: PIL filed

A PIL was moved before the Hyderabad High Court to stay construction of Urban Entertainment Centre at Old Gandhi Medical College premises near Basheerbagh of the city. K. Rajeshwar Reddy, a resident of Adilabad district, moved the court stating that the state government executed an unregistered lease agreement in favour of GSG Constructions Pvt Ltd for development of entertainment centre under the Public Private Partnership mode.

He told the court despite the failure of the developer to deposit the amount of Rs.25 crores, the possession of the land was handed over to them.

He alleged that as part of 'collusion', the government has waived of the outstanding dues and executed a fresh lease agreement with the company on March 27, 2014.

He urged the court to direct the ACB enquiry into the circumstances which made the government to hand over the land to the company by executing an unregistered lease agreement in March , 2014 and also direct the Telangana government to resume the land.