High Court suspends JNTUH norms for new courses

Hyderabad: A division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Justice A. Rajashekar Reddy and Justice T. Vinod Kumar, issued an interim order, suspending the regulations of the JNTU, which mandated that all educational institutions  a no-objetion certificate (NoC) from the state government for starting a new course in an existing college.

The bench was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by a group of 11 engineering colleges affiliated to JNTU, Hyderabad, including Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Keshav Memorial, CMR, VNR, Vardhaman and others. They challenged the affiliation regulations of JNTUH. These colleges were keen on starting courses like artificial intelligence and some submitted that they were ready to reduce the seats in other courses.

Senior advocare S. Niranjan Reddy, appearing for the colleges, said that the state government has no role and it is for the AICTE to decide the commencement of new courses and colleges across the entire country.

V. Ramchander Goud, standing counsel for JNTUH, contended that the state government is empowered under Section 20 of the Telangana Education Act, 1982 to grant permission for establishment of educational institutions and opening new courses in existing institutions.

Government counsel said that all engineering courses are continuing in colleges and the government is directly or indirectly providing financial aid. So, an NoC must be required, he said.

The court did not go by the contentions of the JNTUH and directed it to give affiliation to these colleges, without seeking an NoC.