Engg colleges offering unapproved courses; HC seeks Centre

The Delhi High Court today sought the Centre's response on a plea alleging several engineering colleges are admitting students to BSc and MSc courses without receiving approval from AICTE to offer these subjects.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw issued a notice and sought replies by August 13 from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on the plea of NGO Shabad Welfare Society.
The NGO, which claims to work in the field of formal and non-formal education, has contended in its plea that as per AICTE's approval hand-book of 2012-13, "engineering colleges cannot run any other course in the same premises in which the engineering college is being run".

It has contended in its petition filed through advocate Anil Hooda, that "running of courses of BSc and MSc from the same premises in which the engineering college is being run is totally contrary to the terms of approval" and has sought cancellation or withdrawal of the approval granted to such institutions.
The NGO has submitted a list of 22 colleges which were found to be allegedly violating the approval conditions of the Council.
"The Council should also initiate appropriate penal, civil and/or criminal action against such engineering colleges," the petition has said.
It has alleged such institutions "are misleading the students taking admissions in their colleges for BSc and MSc courses because the students are compelled to think that once the institute is approved by AICTE there is no question of it being fake because the students do not know that AICTE cannot give approval to BSc and MSc courses...".

The NGO has also sought that these institutions be not allowed to admit students in the unapproved courses.