The AICTE, which is known for approving institutes without proper investigation and later withdrawing the approval, is now facing the heat for its carelessness.
The Supreme Court recently imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on AICTE for permitting Parshvanath College of Engineering in Thane to operate, despite its failure to fulfil the requisite criteria for it. The costs would be payable to the Supreme Court legal services committee and would be recovered from the salary of the erring officials, SC said in a December 2012 decision.
In September 2012, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court had also imposed a Rs1 lakh on AICTE for wrongfully deaffiliating an Aurangabad-based engineering college as its infrastructure did not meet the norms.
The HC pulled up the council for approving professional institutes without proper investigation and then suddenly waking up and disapproving them on the basis of new norms. The HC stated that by ignoring the loopholes at the time of physical verification, it is clear AICTE and its concerned officials are equally at fault and party to fraud as per the law.
AICTE’s regional officer AK Shukla, however, said, “These issues are different from the St Wilfred's College case, where the court has upheld our decision to withdraw the approval.”
