Chennai: Tamil Nadu not only has a great number of engineering colleges, but also the most that violate norms laid down by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). According to ministry of human resource development (MHRD) statistics, 45 private engineering colleges from Tamil Nadu have been identified as violators this year whereas the number was 81 in the 2012-13 academic year. In a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha recently, minister of state for HRD Prof. Ram Shankar Katheria said of the 3,000-odd engineering colleges in the country, AICTE had inspected 1,007 in 2011-12, 1,425 in 2012-13, 888 in 2013-14 and 712 so far this year.
A total of 82 colleges across the country had violated AICTE norms in 2011-12, of which 16 were from Tamil Nadu. The following year, the council identified 331 institutions in the country of which about 25 per cent (81) were from TN. In the 2013-14 academic year, of 80 in India, four turned out to be from TN, and this year so far 45 out of 233 colleges in the country were from TN. Prof. Katheria said the AICTE had taken punitive action against such institutes.
Speaking to DC on Wednesday, AICTE chairman Prof.S.S.Mantha said as TN had more engineering colleges the council would have received more complaints from the state. “When we get complaints to do with lack of infrastructure, excess fee collection, demands for capitation fee, or lack of faculty in institutions, we conduct inspections, and based on the outcome, we initiate action, such as reduction of intake in the institution or closure of colleges,” he said.
Pointing out that the AICTE had closed down five private engineering colleges in TN in the past, Prof.Mantha said that Anna University got regular updates on reduction and increase in intake every year during admission to engineering colleges; it had been a routine process for long.
Voicing his concern about the lack of quality in most of the private engineering colleges in the state, former Anna University vice-chancellor and ex-member of the UPSC Prof E.Balagurusamy said that both the AICTE and Anna University ought to upload the list of colleges, which had flouted AICTE norms for the benefit of students. “The state government and Anna University should take steps to make private engineering colleges improve infrastructure. Anna University comes up with a list of colleges which don’t adhere to their norms and later don’t take any follow up action on these colleges; college managements therefore don’t take Anna University seriously,” he said.
