Approval process for 25 state engineering colleges starts

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has started the approval process for 25 engineering colleges in the state, some of which were barred from admitting students last year. The approvals will decide if they can take in students this year.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has started the approval process for 25 engineering colleges in the state, some of which were barred from admitting students last year. The approvals will decide if they can take in students this year.

The colleges are under the scanner for flouting infrastructure and academic norms, but the timing of the AICTE has left students and academicians worried. If the checking starts now, it may not be over in time for admissions in June, and will cloud the process, they said. These colleges make up 5,000 of the 1.5 lakh seats available for engineering aspirants.

The irregularities by these colleges were brought to the AICTE’s notice last year by Citizens Forum for Sanctity in Education, an NGO. Now, an expert committee has been formed to inspect them, based on whose recommendations they will be allowed to participate in the common admission process (CAP) for engineering colleges.

AICTE officials said that approval process will take around a month to be completed.

In Maharashtra, engineering admissions will be based on the results of the JEE (Main) results, which is scheduled to be held on April 4, 10 and 11.

“The approval process for these colleges should have begun long back. The fate of a large number of seats will be uncertain if the approvals don’t come through in time,” said Divyesh Kumar, an engineering aspirant.

Vaibhav Narwade, a professor in an engineering college and member of the NGO that filed the complaint, said the process is not taken seriously enough.

Some of the 25 colleges had approached the Bombay high court (HC) last year, challenging the AICTE’s order to not admit students. The HC allowed 14 of them to admit students in 2014, but asked them to file affidavits giving details of deficiencies and what steps they would take to improve them. Narwade claimed many of the colleges had not filed the affidavits. “The checking process is relaxed and the AICTE has failed to come down heavily on the colleges flouting norms,” he said.

Avinash pant, the AICTE chairman, could not be reached for comments.