: The autonomous Ernakulam Maharaja’s College will not be part of the colleges to be included under the online Centralised Allotment Process (CAP) of the Mahatma Gandhi University for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the new academic year.
The college authorities had earlier considered a proposal to admit students based on CAP in the academic year 2015-16. But this plan has been now shelved as the autonomous institution will have to conduct its own admission process for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes from the new academic year.
The Hindu has learnt that the plan was shelved based on the inference that the college management will not be in a position to utilise the varsity’s administrative mechanism anymore to admit students into various courses. The college authorities also feared that such a step may prove detrimental to the progress of the institution in the future.
The autonomous plans of Maharaja’s received a big boost, with the government sanctioning the delayed Rs. 1.42 crore assistance on Monday. The Hindu had reported on March 20 that the delay had created a stumbling block in the implementation of works related to autonomy.
Out of the latest assistance, Rs. 50 lakh will be used for modernisation of laboratories on the campus. The college library will receive Rs. 10 lakh while Rs. 30 lakh will be utilised for holding training workshops and seminars.
The college authorities have earmarked Rs. 10 lakh for printing question papers and prospectus for admission in the new academic year. Even though the Rs. 1.42 crore had to be utilised before March 31, the college has got a breather with the Finance Department agreeing to utilise the allocation before September 30 next year in view of the delay in releasing the money. The authorities are also hopeful that Maharaja’s may get a lion’s share of the Rs. 10 crore earmarked for government autonomous colleges in the new fiscal.
