ITIs worried over lack of inspection

Government polytechnics and ITIs have complained that the inspection committees that were supposed to visit the institutions as per instructions of the Maharashtra State Board of technical Education (MSBTE) are playing truant and have not turned up, as a result of which their daily routines have been disturbed for a number of days.

The MSBTE has said that it would look into the issue and take the committees to task for dereliction of duty.

The administrator from a South Mumbai-based private polytechnic said, “We received a letter from the MSBTE in the first week of March stating that under instructions from the All India Council of Technical Education all institutions offering vocational and technical courses have to be inspected to ascertain whether they are conforming to the norms laid down by the regulating authority.”

The letter further stated a tentative date on which the committees would be visiting, but they did not turn up on the given date nor on the following days.

“When we called up the committee members, they said they were unable to make it due to other commitments. We are fearful the committees may submit adverse reports that can affect our functioning,” said the administrator who did not wish to be named.

While MSBTE director Dr Abhay Wagh was unavailable for comment, another official said this was a serious issue. “The committees consisting of principals and department officials had been constituted to inspect the institutions so that their approval for the next year could be processed. However if the allegations are true, then action will be taken against them for dereliction of duty,” said the official.