JNAFAU-TGCHE dispute: Telangana council defaults on Rs 2.70 crore rent for over a decade

The Telangana Council of Higher Education has defaulted on Rs 2.70 crore rent for over a decade while occupying JNAFAU’s Nagarjuna block. The university seeks eviction citing space constraints, while TGCHE requests transfer of the building amid ongoing legal disputes.

Hyderabad: The Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) in Masab Tank is stuck with a typical troublesome tenant, the Telangana Council of Higher Education (TGCHE), that neither pays the rent nor vacates the building.

For more than a decade, the TGCHE has been operating out of the JNAFAU’s Nagarjuna block on a monthly rental of Rs 2,11,467. However, the Council, which funds the higher education institutions for organising events, workshops and other programmes in the State, has not been paying the rent since August 2015, leading to outstanding dues of Rs 2.70 crore as of March 2026.

---

The JNAFAU, in the past, wrote letters to the Council seeking payment of the dues and prompt payment of monthly rent. However, to date, neither are dues cleared nor are monthly payments being made to the university.

The university building, built on a 1,500 square yard land owned by the Department of Technical Education, had been given to the Andhra Pradesh Council of Higher Education in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh on a rental basis with an agreement in 2008. After Telangana came into being, the TGCHE commenced its operations from the same building.

“Since both are government institutions, the TGCHE thinks that it is not necessary to pay the university. We have sent reminders in the past to clear the dues,” JNAFAU sources told ‘Telangana Today’.

The JNAFAU recently asked the State government to direct the TGCHE to vacate its building, which it has been occupying on the campus for more than a decade, citing space constraints for holding classes.

The university move came as the TGCHE wrote a letter to the Hyderabad district collector seeking transfer of 1,500 square yards out of the total 13.87 acres of the JNAFAU land, along with the present building of the university, which belongs to the Technical Education department, to TGCHE.

The Council backed up this request, citing recommendations of the three-member committee that proposed that the government to transfer the building to the TGCHE for Rs 6.65 crore. The Technical Education department had also issued a NoC to alienate 1,500 square yards, including built-up area of the existing, to TGCHE.

However, the university contended that proceeding issued by the department was invalid technically without amending the University Act No 31 of 2008 by the legislative assembly.

Meanwhile, the TGCHE is searching for a new office space in the Centre for Economic and Social Studies campus in Begumpet.