SC raps AICTE for not adhering to court mandated schedule

The court said there was laxity in following the time frame, in which the AICTE acted casually and didn't adhere to the calendar fixed by it

The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for not adhering to the schedule of granting recognition to institutions and not intimating this to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (APJAKTU) in Uttar Pradesh, thereby endangering prospects of the students.

"We can be exemplarily ruthless in dealing with any flouting of our order," an apex court bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy said during the hearing, indicating that it may issue 'contempt of court' notice on the concerned officers.

"You (AICTE) don't know how ruthless we can be if we realise you are hurting the future of the students of 608 institutions," Justice Roy said taking exception to AICTE leaving just eight days for the university to decide on the application by the institutions seeking its affiliation.

The bench said there was serious laxity in following the time frame, pointing out that the AICTE acted in the matter casually and didn't adhere to the calendar fixed by the court in December 2012.

The bench asked the AICTE to file an affidavit explaining the delay in intimating the APJAKTU about the recognition granted by it to 612 institutions. Of these, 608 are old and four are new.

Based on the reply by AICTE, which is the regulator of technical education in the country, the court would decide cost and damages to be imposed on it, the court said. The court gave AICTE one week's time to file the affidavit.

The apex court by its December 13, 2012 order had set a schedule for grant of recognition to institutions which AICTE failed to adhered to.

The court had then said, "Both grant/refusal of approval and admission schedule shall be strictly adhered to by all the authorities concerned including the AICTE, university, state government and any other authority directly or indirectly connected with the grant of approval and admission, and no person or authority shall have the power or jurisdiction to vary the schedule."

In the instant case, the bench extended the time till June 10 for the university to decide on the applications seeking affiliation. However, the court said that it was a one-time exception, considering the peculiarity of the case and should not be a treated as a precedent.

Appearing for the APJAKTU, Amitesh Kumar told the court that AICTE intimated the university about the recognition granted by it to 612 institutions on May 7 at 7.00 p.m., which is 25 days late than the original date of April 11.

He told the court that May 7 was a Saturday, thereby pointing out any follow-up action by the university for the processing of applications for the grant of affiliation to these institutions commenced only on May 9.

Seeking an extension of time for the processing of the applications for the grant of affiliation, Amitesh Kumar told the court that rest of the admission process would be strictly in accordance with the schedule fixed by the apex court by its judgement of December 13, 2012.