The Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) here on Friday alleged that the intake capacity of the government-run engineering colleges in the State had been increased in violation of statutes.
The State government had not even obtained mandatory approval of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the national-level apex body responsible for growth of technical education and maintaining high quality standards, the Association charged.
Addressing a press conference here, OPECA honorary secretary Binod Dash said, “Government engineering colleges have increased 1,214 seats in various branches in six colleges without AICTE approval in 2015-16.”
Stating that the government-run engineering colleges had also opened new branches without AICTE approval, Mr. Dash alleged as per AICTE norms without National Board of Accreditation (NBA), a college cannot open new branches whereas none of the government colleges had NBA certificate.
‘Illegal’
“For the year 2016-17, an excess of 1,550 B. Tech and 779 M. Tech seats had been displayed in the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination website for admission without any AICTE approval, which is illegal,” alleged OPECA secretary.
The OPECA cautioned that by admitting students against unapproved seats, the government engineering colleges were jeopardising career of students who would face difficulty in getting scholarship and government jobs in future.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its 2015 report pointed out that most of the government engineering colleges in Odisha did not have required infrastructure such as building, laboratory, equipment, library and e-journals, the Association charged.
Moreover, there was vacancy of 51 per cent of total faculty strength required as per AICTE norms, Mr. Dash said, adding “most of teachers were on contractual basis and student faculty ratio was highly unfavourable.”
The Association also took exception to advertisement by Sambalpur University which sought applications for admission into first year of B. Tech courses on basis of marks obtained in Plus Two examination.
At present there are above 90 degree engineering colleges having total intake capacity close to 50,000 seats. However, during past couple of years colleges have been struggling to fill up 20,000 seats.
