BENGALURU: To reduce the mushrooming of engineering colleges and intake of students in the state, the Karnataka government has issued a circular that all private colleges (aided and unaided) will have to take prior permission to start fresh programmes, and to either increase or decrease the number of seats in the courses. Merging courses or closing courses also need to be approved by a no-objective certificate (NOC) from the affiliating university and the government.
The new rule applies for the academic year 2024-25 and all the institutions have been informed that failing to follow the new rule will result in strict action against institutions, read the circular. Earlier, the institutions only needed a nod from the All India Council for Technical Education (AITCE), which the state government has stated as an illegal procedure, and has warned that the matter is being taken seriously.
The nine-pointer directive dated December 14, 2023 and stamped on December 27, 2023, said that the engineering college has to get an inspection report from the local inquiry committee of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and the affiliating university.
Once that is obtained, an NOC needs to be procured from the government. “All education institutions and governing bodies of the state must apply on the AITCE portal, only after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the state government, to either increase or decrease seats and start new courses,” stated the circular.
The department also warned that the seats from colleges would be added to the seat matrix for CET counselling only if the NOC is obtained before the AITCE nod.
In an altercation between Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar and the AITCE Chairman, several letters were exchanged to regulate the growth of private engineering and technical institutions, by banning new colleges for three years. AITCE had then said it does not permit or forbid institutions and it does not come under the council ambit. Adding that the authority goes forward with new institutions only after a stamped receipt is received from the states.