Chennai: Even as the University Grants Commission (UGC) has published its draft regulation for technical education institutions, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is still pushing hard to get its regulatory role restored.
Speaking to DC, AICTE chairman Prof S. S. Mantha on Wednesday lamented that the human resource development ministry’s failure to promulgate an ordinance to restore AICTE’s power had turned the calendar back by five years.
“We took up the issue with the HRD ministry in April itself, but it did not come up with a solution to solve the crisis. If there had been any concrete steps taken six months ago you would not have seen the present situation,” he said.
Pointing out that it would not be possible for the UGC to regulate technical education institutions in the country as it had no expertise in the field, the AICTE chairman said that with the present crisis, technical education had come to a standstill in the country.
HRD sources alleged that the cabinet secretary had turned down AICTE’s plea to promulgate an ordinance and instead reiterated the Supreme Court’s verdict, to make the UGC the regulator for engineering colleges.
Meanwhile, the three-member UGC committee, with Prof. M.M. Ansari, Prof. D. Narasimha Reddy and Prof. Sanjay Dhande as members, held its meeting in New Delhi to finalise the regulations for technical educational institutions drÂaÂfÂted by Prof. AnandakÂriÂshÂnan and Prof. Sanjay DhÂaÂnÂde.
UGC sources said that the committee discussed the feedback it received from stakeholders and did not come up with a final decision as the HRD Ministry had raised a point whether the AICTE’s regulation for engineering colleges could be used instead of the UGC’s new regulation due to a paucity of time.
“Once the ministry comes up with its decision we will communicate it to the universities for action as they will do what the AICTE had done earlier and we, in turn, will monitor the universities,” UGC sources added.
