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Latest News |
| 17th
July 2010 / Times of India / Pune Edition |
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New institutes worried about AICTE decision
LETTER OF APPROVAL
Pune: The newly approved technical institutions —
including management and engineering colleges —
in the state this year are staring at a potential legal
crisis due to the All India Council for Technical Education’s
(AICTE) move to withhold the grant of letter of approvals
(LoAs) to these institutions on the grounds of ‘incomplete
data’.
The council’s move comes after it had released the
list of approved technical institutions in two phases
— on June 14 and 29 — only to later take a
fresh look and consider withdrawal of approval to some
of these institutions. “There is no communication,
whatsoever, from the AICTE as to what it means by incomplete
data,” the head of a city-based academic society,
which is to start a management college, told TOI.
The state government as well as the director of technical
education (DTE) have gone ahead with extending their clearances
to the concerned institutions on the basis of the list
that was released on June 14 and 29 on the AICTE’s
website. The DTE even issued the choice code and the student
code to new institutions while incorporating their names
in the option forms, which students are required to fill
to indicate their choice of college for seat allotment.
The institutions are now left worrying whether to admit
students in the absence of the LoA, which is a key requirement
for cementing the approval. The AICTE’s approval
process handbook for new institutions clearly states that
the admission authority “shall not” permit
admission of students to a technical institution, which
is not approved by the council.
New management colleges, in particular, are facing immediate
trouble as the first round of the centralised admissions
conducted by the DTE is to commence from July 21, when
students will start reporting to the new colleges to secure
their allotted seats. The process for filling up of the
option forms for the engineering degree courses is also
to be announced on July 19.
State DTE S K Mahajan told TOI, “We are equally
surprised by the AICTE’s move considering that such
a thing has never happened. We are hoping that a clearer
picture will emerge on Saturday, when we are to receive
the council’s letter specifying which are the institutions
that remain approved and which are not.”
Asked how did the government and the DTE give their clearances
when the AICTE had not issued the LoA, Mahajan said there
was nothing unusual about the practice. “For years
now, we have been issuing our clearances on the basis
of the list released on the council’s website. The
LoAs keep coming later to the institutions. This is the
first time when the council is reconsidering its approvals
announced earlier.”
Mahajan said, “The AICTE had informed us on June
29 that 116 technical institutions, including management
and engineering colleges, have been approved in the state
for 2010-11. Later, the council had a meeting on July
13 and we are told now that the approval to 22 of these
institutions will be withdrawn.”
Asked about the impact on the MBA admissions, Mahajan
said, “We will have to withdraw the institutions
that do not get the LoAs and will have to make adjustments
in the option forms. Usually, new institutions never figure
among the top five choices of the students.”
Referring to engineering admissions, Mahajan said, “Details
relating to new institutions, new courses and variation
in intake at existing institutions will be released after
we issue the notification for the option form process.”
Meanwhile, the heads of some of the management colleges,
which are facing uncertainty on account of the AICTE’s
move, have expressed their deep resentment over the way
things have progressed for them.
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