B-schools in Maharashtra get stay order against AICTE norms

In a major blow to the country’s technical education regulator, the Bombay High Court is understood to have given a stay order on the recent guidelines issued by it, which, among other things, proposed to regulate the fees and course curriculum of all the B-schools.

This implies that the 30-odd institutions in Maharashtra, who had filed the writ petition against the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines, will be free to select candidates through any of five national level entrance tests for 2011. According to sources, the court had given a ruling in favour of a writ petition filed by Consortium of Management Institutes, Maharashtra (COMI), which had challenged the guidelines.

When contacted, COMI, has about 30 B-schools as members from Maharashtra, confirmed the move but added that they were yet to receive the order copy. “Though this is a regional development, it will have larger ramifications on all the other petitions being filed by other institutions,” said H Chaturvedi, Alternate President, Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI).

Earlier, this month the Orissa High Court had also given a stay order on the AICTE notifications till March, 2011, when it will come up for further hearing. EPSI and Association of Indian Management schools (AIMS) had filed separate writ petitions challenging the same guidelines of AICTE in the Supreme Court. In December 2010, AICTE issued guidelines on post-graduate diploma in management (PGDM) courses.

Of the clauses, the B-schools strongly oppose the norm that admission to PGDM courses must be through common entrance tests such as the Common Admission Test (CAT), Management Aptitude Test (MAT) or examinations conducted by state governments.

AICTE also suggested that a model curriculum for PGDM should be issued by the council. It also directed the B-schools not to start admissions to their PGDM (executive) courses before March 31 of any academic year. AICTE also said admission to PGDM programmes must be conducted by state governments through a competent authority. The regulator has also suggested that fees to be charged for PGDM, PGDM executive and PGCM programme be approved by a committee of respective state governments.