Thursday, May 17, 2010
Legal tangle may hit BE admission

Chennai: A critical situation has apparently arisen in the state, which unless addressed urgently — either by officials or the court — could delay admission to BE/BTech degree programmes in self-financing engineering colleges this year.

Due to a legal tangle, the Anna Universities in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli are unable to grant affiliation to engineering colleges in their jurisdiction as a result of which admission cannot be carried out. Every year the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) inspects engineering colleges and grants approval for each course offered by institutions which meet its norms on infrastructure, faculty and other aspects. In the absence of this mandatory approval, universities cannot affiliate engineering colleges in their respective jurisdictions.

However, this year the Consortium of Self Financing Professional Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu and a group of engineering colleges approached the Madras high court challenging the AICTE’s new norms for granting approval. The matter is still sub judice and on Wednesday the court adjourned hearing in the cases. “This has put us in a quandary. Since the issue is in the court, the AICTE cannot approve any of the courses. The approval, in many cases, is granted on an annual basis. Institutions which have been functioning for several years are given approvals for courses valid for a three-year period. At least 300 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu are required to renew their approval annually. As the approval is pending, universities cannot affiliate institutions and consequently no admission can be made,” a senior official in the higher education department said.

In fact, sensing this situation higher education minister K Ponmudy had last month openly appealed to owners of self-financing engineering colleges to withdraw the cases filed in the court.

“If you withdraw the cases, I am willing to negotiate with the AICTE on your behalf and work out an amicable settlement. Tamil Nadu is the only state where the AICTE has not processed the applications for approval,” the minister had said then.

Although the issue appears technical in nature, its implications are serious.

Annually, the AICTE increases or cuts the students’ intake in each course after inspecting the colleges. Also, several institutions surrender seats in less popular branches reducing their intake capacity.

Without a clear picture on the number of seats available in each course, the seat matrix for the forthcoming single window counselling for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) cannot be finalised.

“Only two solutions appear to be on hand now. The government should approach the AICTE and request that provisional approval be granted to the colleges so that the Anna University can grant a similar provisional affiliation to facilitate the admissions. Or, an interim direction must be obtained from the court to go ahead with the admissions on the basis of last year’s seat matrix pending finality,” an official said.

Uncertain Process
The Anna Universities in Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Tirunelveli are unable to grant affiliation to engineering colleges due to a legal problem as a result of which admission cannot be carried out

Since the issue is in the court, the AICTE cannot grant approval to any of the courses. The approval, in many cases, is granted on an annual basis