Minority engg colleges defy admission rules

MUMBAI: Some engineering colleges run by minority communities have decided to defy government norms this year by refusing to follow the centralised admissions procedure.
Instead, they are conducting independent admissions for their Bachelor of Engineering courses.
Colleges like Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Bandra, and Watumull Institute of Electronic Engineering and Computer Technology, Worli, have already started selling admission forms independently.
Justifying the decision, Thadomal Shahani college principal Kranti Kumar said, “We are simply exercising the right granted to us by the Supreme Court order of October 2002.’’
The apex court order permitted private colleges to conduct their own admissions. “The government’s insistence on conducting the admissions through a centralised procedure infringes on our autonomy, which the SC order grants,’’Mr Kumar said.
The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), which conducts the centralised engineering admissions, is not pleased with this. “If these colleges refuse to admit the students allotted to them through the state merit list, we will be forced to take action against them,’’ DTE director N.B. Pasalkar said.
He maintained that while minority colleges are free to admit students from their communities to 50 per cent of the seats and admit any students to, or even sell, another 15 per cent of the seats, admissions for the remaining 35 per cent of the seats have to be done according to the state merit list.
According to DTE officials, it is not practical to allow each college to conduct independent admissions.
“Students will have to run from one institution to another filling out forms. Such a move will not only make it difficult to monitor admissions, but will also put a financial burden on the colleges,’’ an official said. Officials maintained that the centralised admission procedure ensures transparent and merit-based admissions.
But a private college principal said, “Ultimately the entire issue boils down to the interpretation of the SC order. If the DTE takes action, the matter will once again be dragged to court.’’