Monday, June 28, 2010
Legal cloud over BE admissions

Chennai: A cloud of legal uncertainty has engulfed the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) scheduled to begin on Monday without the approved seat matrix from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Senior officials of the higher education ministry, whom desperate admission authorities were unable to reach over phone or in person since Friday, stepped in on Sunday and instructed authorities of the directorate of technical education (DoTE) to release a seat matrix based on the previous year’s seat availability in 440-plus engineering colleges. The DoTE authorities had earlier taken the legal stand that the AICTE had not released its list of approved technical institutions for the academic year 2010-11.

Observers pointed out that the DoTE was right in taking such a position because just a fortnight ago the Karnataka Examination Authority was forced to put off its BE/BTech admissions two days before the scheduled commencement, since the AICTE’s approved seat matrix was not ready. Finally, Karnataka higher education minister Aravind Limbavali had to meet Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal to expedite the release of the seat matrix from the AICTE and reschedule the counselling to July 7.

Meanwhile, authorities at Anna University, which conducts the single window counselling for the TNEA on the directions of the government, have put in place all logistical and technical arrangements.

The TNEA authorities have issued call letters to 182 aspirants to attend the single window counselling to fill up 100 seats under the sports quota on Monday. Of these, 12 seats are available in the Anna University’s College of Engineering, AC College of Technology and the Madras Institute of Technology. Aspirants can pick the remaining 88 seats from the university’s affiliated colleges.

However, as on date only 50-odd engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu are functioning with approval from the AICTE which are valid for the academic year 2010-11. The AICTE has been unable to process applications from 309 colleges—the remaining institutions have not filed applications—due to an ongoing legal battle over the AICTE’s new approval norms.

Under these circumstances, observers are arguing that it would have been wiser for the state government to postpone the counselling.

“The AICTE (Grant of Approvals for Technical Institutions) Regulations, 2010, issued in January does not grant any legal sanctity to admissions made in unapproved colleges,” said an AICTE official.

Rule 4.24 of the regulations clearly states: “Competent authorities for admission shall not allow the admission of students in those technical institutions, which do not have requisite approval of the council.” In fact, Rule 4.25 of the regulations goes on to say that “affiliating universities shall not enroll students admitted in such technical institutions, which do not have requisite approval of the council.” Likewise, Rule 4.26, restrains central or state government from permitting any unapproved technical institution from admitting students.

“If the single window counselling is held based on last year’s seat matrix, any admission made into an unapproved institution will be illegal and the state shall be a party to this illegality,” the official said.

However, government officials were hopeful that they can eventually tide over this “technicality” when the AICTE grants approval to the colleges after the court case is settled.