Managements running over 1,300 private engineering, MBA and MCA colleges have decided to close down their institutions indefinitely from February 24 following failure of their talks with the government on Wednesday on release of tuition fee dues of students admitted in 2010-11.

During the talks, the Group of Ministers headed by Social Welfare Minister Pithani Satyanarayana offered to release Rs. 1,000 crore against the overall of Rs. 3,400 crore in the budget for tuition fee and hostel mess charges covered by scholarships.

Speaking to reporters later, N. Ramesh, chairman, Consortium of Managements of Engineering and Professional Colleges' Associations, said that they will resort to closure, unless the government cleared 50 per cent of the commitment by February 24 and indicated a clear time-table for releasing the remaining amount.