Primary and Secondary Education Minister N. Mahesh has ordered that all files pertaining to 84 private pre-university colleges that were given permission at the secretariat level be submitted to his office. This comes in the wake of allegations that permissions were granted when the code of conduct for the Legislative Council elections was in place and in spite of the colleges allegedly violating rules.
Mr. Mahesh on Wednesday said all the files would be reviewed by him to check for any shortcomings.
On Tuesday, Mr. Mahesh had said there would be an inquiry into how the new private PU colleges were given permission by the State government even though they had allegedly violated rules laid down by the Department of Pre-University Education. The inquiry would also probe if all the 84 colleges adhered to the rule that no private PU college could be given permission if a government college was already functioning in a 3-km radius of the proposed location.
MLC’s charge
This issue was brought to light after Arun Shahapur, MLC, pointed out that though the Director of the DPUE had received 246 proposals to start new PU colleges, the officer had recommended only 11 to the government for approval. The remaining 235 proposals were rejected as they did not meet the infrastructure norms and other rules laid down by the department. The Hindu had reported that despite the violations, 84 Government Orders were issued at the secretariat level. Department officials, however, stated that none of these college managements got first recognition permission which is mandatory to open a new college.
