As many as 40 engineering colleges have been barred from admitting students this year by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in view of their failure to fulfill the minimum criteria prescribed by the council.The deficiencies in the colleges were discovered during surprise inspections conducted in January this year.
The institutions were identified from a list of 120 across the state.This means that just about 680 colleges will be participating in the counselling this year.The total number of seats before the 40 colleges were barred from admissions was 2.8 lakh.
The AICTE conducts surprise inspections every year to identify institutions which do not fulfill the norms.Five per cent of technical institutions in the country are visited during these surprise visits.
In January,60 colleges in the state were served showcause notices and 20 of them were given conditional permission to admit students.While about 10 colleges were asked to cut down their intake,others were not allowed to increase their seats.
Some colleges have appealed to the AICTE to allow them to take part in the counselling.A decision on this will be taken by the end of this month, said K V K Rao,secretary,Consortium of Professional College Managements Association.Rao alleged that the AICTE made some judgment errors during the inspection.
We have approached the Delhi high court against these inspections.In the affidavit we have pointed out how the council targets certain managements in their surprise inspections while others go scot free, said Rao.
The charges against the erring colleges include lack of enough infrastructure and staff to support the student intake.
Some of the colleges are facing criminal charges for hacking into online accounts of students.
The state government is looking into each of these allegations and only when things clear up a no objection certificate will be give to colleges, said an official of the higher education department.