PMK chief wants Anna varsity to take over engineering colleges

Chennai: PMK chief S. Ramadoss on Sunday expressed shock over the Centre's data that about 25 per cent of engineering colleges that had violated rules are in the state and urged the state government to take over such erring institutions to provide quality education. “Engineering colleges that violate rules should be taken over by the government and brought under the control of Anna University," he said in a statement.

"In the past four years, of the colleges that have been identified as having violated AICTE rules nationally, 20-25 per cent belong to TN," he said, quoting Union minister Ram Shankar Katheria's reply in Parliament.TN has 532 engineering colleges, the second highest after AP at 670 of the total of 3,389 in India.

Charging some engineering colleges with collecting fees at least twice more than what was fixed, he said some institutions in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore take many times more than the stipulated fee.

"Students are fleeced by several colleges though they do not have sufficient infrastructure and qualified teachers," he said, adding that though AICTE had found 146 engineering colleges had violated rules in the past three-and-a-half years, no action had been taken. He also said it was the duty of Anna University to release the list of erring colleges to keep students and parents in the know.