Engineering and Management colleges back to AICTE control

Hyderabad: Engineering and management colleges are back under the control of the All India Council for Technical Education.  The Supreme Court on Friday issued orders giving regulatory powers to AICTE to control all  technical institutions in the country.

According to Mr Nimmatoori Ramesh, chairman of the Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges Managements Association of AP, the four-judge bench of the apex court issued orders on Friday restoring regulatory powers to AICTE. The AICTE is expected to issue a notification to this effect on Sunday.

All colleges  will need to get approval from AICTE for setting up new colleges or increase intake for this year by May-end. The approval process will be completed by June 15.

“We welcome the SC orders restoring regulatory powers to AICTE. This will enable us in maintaining uniform standards in engineering and management colleges across the country and ensure quality in education,” Mr Ramesh said.

The association, which has over 2,000 member colleges, was apprehensive about their future as UGC had accorded regulatory powers to state universities.
The Supreme Court had issued interim orders on April 17 restoring regulatory powers to AICTE. 

But uncertainty over who would control these colleges remained,  despite the Supreme Court verdict in April 2013 stating that AICTE cannot regulate technical colleges affiliated to a university, since it was only an “advisory body” as per the AICTE Act.

Following this, the UGC took over regulatory powers and asked affiliated universities to grant approvals  to  colleges from 2014-15 in place of AICTE.
The UGC had even imposed a ban on granting new colleges and on enhancing intake, which was strongly opposed by college managements.