CHENNAI: Even though plus-2 students would finish their exams in another week, the work for online engineering counselling is yet to begin as the confusion over annual engineering counselling remains unresolved.
Anna University Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa has resigned from Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee as chairman following the differences over reconstitution of the committee by the higher education department.
His resignation put the participation of Anna University in the counselling process under the cloud as sources indicated that the largest technical university may not conduct the counselling this year.
The TNEA was fully prepared to hold the online counselling for B.E., B.Tech. courses around this time last year.
Sources said the DOTE (Directorate of Technical Education) commissioner may head the counselling process this year. But, so far no official announcement has been made in this regard.
Speaking to reporters after the inauguration of annual sports day at Anna University on Wednesday, Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa said only higher education department can decide about whether Anna University will conduct engineering counselling this year.
"Last year, the university conducted first ever online counselling without any major technical glitch. But, I resigned from TNEA following the higher education department's interference," he said.
TNEA committee was constituted in November 2017 for a period of three years and it was reconstituted after completing just one year. In the new committee, the DOTE commissioner was appointed as co-chairman of TNEA.
Professors said the state government should resolve the issue for conducting the online counselling smoothly. "If there is any hiccup in the online counselling, thousands of students and their parents will be affected," they warned.
For the past 22 years, Anna University has been conducting engineering admissions through single window counselling in an efficient manner that was appreciated by students, parents and academics.
