Four of the 13 colleges that were barred from conducting admissions for the academic year 2016-17 by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have got a lease of life after the vacation be
Four of the 13 colleges that were barred from conducting admissions for the academic year 2016-17 by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have got a lease of life after the vacation bench of the Bombay high court stayed the barring order on the grounds that the Council had not given the institutions a chance to have their say on the issue of deficient norms. The NGO that has complained about 13 institutions has said that the excuses of the institutions are flimsy and they have been misusing the judiciary to cover up for their lapses.
According to sources, four institutions that had been refused extension of approval (EOA) by AICTE had petitioned the court that they had not been given a chance to justify their side by the Council. They cited a 2015 Supreme Court order wherein if the government or administration has not given a hearing to the aggrieved party then in such cases no disciplinary action could be initiated until the hearing was given. The institutions in question that filed the petitioned were Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan, Rizvi College of Engineering, J.J. Maghdoom College of Engineering and Saboo Siddique college.
“The court has stayed the AICTE order for Maghdoom College while it has directed AICTE to give a hearing to the other colleges. Another college, Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, has been asked to file an appeal on Thursday against the Council order,” said the source.
The Council issues EOA every year to engineering colleges, which allows the colleges to admit students for various engineering courses. However, this year the Council did not issue EOA to 13 colleges, which include the above-mentioned colleges on the grounds that they had failed to conform to infrastructural and academic norms.
Prof Vaibhav Narvade, secretary of Forum for Sanctity in Educational Institutions (FSEI) that has been at the forefront of exposing the institutions, alleged the colleges had been misusing the judicial remedy to continue their wayward ways for the past three years. “Most of the colleges have been using this excuse of not getting a hearing to get a stay on the Council orders. It is unfortunate they are able to continue non-chalantly at the cost of the safety and welfare of the students,” he said.
