Edupreneurs may heave a sigh of relief

As SC allows AICTE to control technical institutions, council may begin clearing proposals for setting up of new institutes by June 2014

Last week brought a glimmer of hope for edupreneurs who have been waiting in the wings. With the Supreme Court giving back its powers to the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE), India's technical education regulator, fresh applications for new institutes may finally be cleared.

The Supreme Court has allowed AICTE to have regulatory control over technical educational institutions in the country for the 2014-15 academic year. The verdict comes at a time when, according to sources, around 300-400 applications for new technical colleges are awaiting approval.

AICTE however, is taking one step at a time. AICTE chairman SS Mantha said, the regulatory body is yet to read the fine print of the interim order before deciding the next course of action. Welcoming the SC verdict that came on April 17, Mantha said AICTE is yet to seek legal opinion before taking further steps.

"We are in the process of seeking legal opinion. We still don't know to what extent is the regulatory control allowed. Once we are clear about it, we can set an agenda for the year," said Mantha. As per the verdict, SC has allowed control for the 2014-15 academic year as of now. An interim order, the verdict came as a result of a latest petition by the Odisha Technical Colleges' Association (OTCA).

Last year, an April 25 order by the Supreme Court shrunk AICTE's role in regulating technical institutions affiliated to any university. Following this, the regulatory control had gone to University Grants Commission (UGC) much to the chagrin of such technical institutions. Technical colleges affiliated to universities and offering courses like BTech, BPharm and MBA were of the view that UGC being an agency to offer grants had no expertise in regulatory control.

"We knew UGC didn't have the capabilities of regulatory control over technical colleges. Moreover, UGC said it will not approve new technical institutions this year. Even the norms of control under UGC came as late as December 2013. Hence, the latest interim order has come at a right time and is right in returning the control to AICTE that has developed its own expertise over a period of time," said H Chaturvedi, director, Birla Institute of Management Technology.

In December 2013, over 300 B-schools in the country had protested against UGC when it had drafted guidelines for approval of new courses, setting up of new technical institutions and closure of the old ones and all other regulatory steps. Experts and sources also opine that the interim order will follow further arguments before a final order is announced by the SC.

With the UGC not approving new institutes, applications for the 2014-15 academic year have been pending. Moreover, sources said that the AICTE may take further legal course and plea for a shift in the deadline for approving new institutions from current May 15 to June 30, 2014.

There are roughly 13,000 such technical colleges that fall under the AICTE purview.