Law to fix bogus courses, colleges

The state government is very serious about cracking down on all bogus or unauthorised institutes and colleges. By the end of the year, it will bring in a law to ensure such institutes are permanently shut down.

The state government is very serious about cracking down on all bogus or unauthorised institutes and colleges. By the end of the year, it will bring in a law to ensure such institutes are permanently shut down.

HT Image

Colleges and institutes that offer affordable courses and job guarantees are a dime a dozen in the city. The lure is the attractive advertising and fees, but at the end of it the certificate is worth nothing. A majority of these courses are to do with air hostess training, hospitality, management, and so on.

All authorised colleges in the state are registered with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Maharashtra Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), where their course material is standardised. The law that the government is formulating will make owners of unauthorised or bogus institutes pay a heavy penalty, face jail terms and have their institutes shut down.

“Many of these bogus colleges and institutes have no facilities, no infrastructure and are not even recognised. They just float courses that students take up without realising the downside. We are bringing in a law called the ‘Maharashtra Unauthorised Colleges Act’ to take action against such college managements and close them down permanently,” said State Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope.

“Under the present law we cannot take action against such institutes and have to call in the police. Also, there is no mechanism to keep such colleges and institutes in check,” he said.

So, in addition to the law, the department will set up a separate monitoring cell under DTE that will continuously monitor such institutes. “Both DTE and AICTE put up a list of authorised colleges and courses on their websites, which are updated every year. Students should check these sites before enrolling for a course,” Tope added.