SC pulls up AICTE for delaying grant of approval to Technical Colleges

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rapped the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for delaying the grant of approval to technical colleges and flouting the schedule set by it. The delay in grant of approval by AICTE has resulted in postponement of the counseling session for students.

Warning issuance of a contempt of court order to the concerned officers, a Vacation Bench of the Apex Court comprising Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy observed, “We can be exemplarily ruthless in dealing with any flouting of our order… You (AICTE don’t know how ruthless we can be if we realize you are hurting the future of the students of 608 institutions.”

Earlier, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University had approached the Supreme Court, demanding more time to complete the verification process, which is a must before the University gives affiliation to the Colleges once AICTE approval comes through. As per reports, when the University begun the verification process, it came to fore that there were about 20,000 fake teachers in 612 colleges. The University had then taken the stand that it would not grant affiliation to such colleges.

AICTE was scheduled to give the list of approved colleges to the University by April 10, which was provided only on May 7. As per the Supreme Court verdict pronounced in 2012, Universities were scheduled to complete the verification process by May 2015 for grant of affiliation. This deadline has now been extended to June 10.

The Bench further directed AICTE to explain within a week, the reason for non-compliance of its order, and the “lapse and latches” on the part of the regulatory body to communicate to APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, the grant of approval to 612 engineering colleges in Uttar Pradesh.