AICTE may relax ban: ‘Will consider nod for new engg, pharmacy colleges’

After introducing a blanket ban on new engineering and pharmacy colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has now decided to be lenient with

After introducing a blanket ban on new engineering and pharmacy colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has now decided to be lenient with their decision in special cases.

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While the idea behind the ban was to control the mushrooming of pharmacy and engineering institutes across the country, certain state governments have requested for leniency, especially where the number of pharmacy and technical institutes is still low.

“Some requests were made to the Pharmacy Council of India for exceptions in states where less than 50 pharmacy colleges exist . We have agreed to accept such proposals,” said Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE.

While states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra currently share the highest density of pharmacy institutes, Bihar, as well as
most states in the north east region, do not even have 50 colleges each.

“We cannot deny aspirants the right to have a college in their own state, so we decided to accept applications for new institutes from these states, while the blanket ban continues elsewhere for the next two years,” he added.

In some cases, some proposals to set up pharmacy institutes, that were denied in the last two years due to lack of proper infrastructure, have also been allowed to reapply for permission.

Similarly, while the ban on engineering colleges was implemented to control the growing number of institutes, poor distribution of these institutes across the country has pushed for relaxation of rules.

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