Top

Kerala: Vacant self-financing engineering seats to be NRI quota

Nearly 25,000 seats including 17,866 seats in the government quota were vacant in private self-financing engineering colleges.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Admission Supervisory Committee headed by Justice R. Rajendra Babu has decided to convert vacant seats in the government quota of private self-financing colleges into NRI quota. Nearly 25,000 seats including 17,866 seats in the government quota were vacant in private self-financing engineering colleges. Justice Babu told Deccan Chronicle that the AICTE had given approval to the colleges to convert merit quota seats in self-financing colleges to NRI quota.

Kerala Self-financing Engineering College Management Association (KSFECMA) had submitted a representation to the committee pointing out the sanction given by the AICTE. The committee allowed them to make admissions on the basis of the AICTE directive, Justice Babu said. As per the decision of the AICTE, there are only five percent seats in the NRI quota. The decision to increase the NRI quota to 15 percent was taken as per the provisions of the agreement between the managements and the government. This was by introducing a provision for NRK quota, Justice Babu said.

The decision was applicable for the government quota seats only. The authority for conducting admissions to management quota seats in private self-financing colleges was with the managements, Justice Babu said. Sources said that the decision to fix NRI quota at 15 per cent was based on the Self-Financing Act of 2006. Education is in the concurrent list, and the state has the right to take such decisions. Last year, Colleges were allowed by the AICTE to increase the number from five per cent to 15 per cent by paying a fee of Rs 1 lakh, sources said.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
Next Story