HYDERABAD: Scores of petitions from both AP and Telangana states were filed before the Hyderabad High Court challenging the amendment made to Regulation 8(3) of the National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition norms and Procedure) Amendment Regulations, 2017 making it mandatory for the educational institutions concerned to obtain accreditation from NCTE.
When these batch petitions came up for hearing on Monday before a division bench, standing counsel for NCTE K Ramakanth Reddy urged for not hearing the present petitions since a dispute regarding the new rules were already challenged before the Supreme Court, and urged for transfer of these petitions to the higher court. On the other hand, the counsels for petitioners argued that the NCTE has made the amendment contrary to the provisions of the NCTE Act, 1993. In fact, the Teacher educational institutions belonging to the petitioners have already obtained ‘recognition’ from the NCTE. However, the new amendment was brought in which would result in a heavy burden on these institutions since an amount of `1.5 lakh was to be paid to undergo the process of accreditation as a condition precedent for the continuation of recognition as Teacher Educational Institutions. The last date to get accreditation was August 31, they added.
After hearing both sides, the bench asked the standing counsel for NCTE to tell by next date of hearing whether there was any provision for the petitioners’ institutions to go ahead with the process of accreditation by submitting their details on the website without payment of `1.5 lakh.
The bench posted the matter to August 31 for hearing.