Amidst Government's declaration that ten engineering colleges in Telangana have approached it seeking no objection certificates to close down as they were found deficient in imparting technical education, the Congress and BJP today staged a walkout in the Assembly claiming that the Government resorted to strong-arm tactics against the colleges in a bid to water down fee reimbursement scheme for students.
In the only question taken up by the Assembly during question hour, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari said that it was not the intention of the Government to ride roughshod on the managements when it served notices withdrawing affiliation of 163 colleges and 814 courses on January 31 last. It was done in response to a Supreme Court judgement for failure to adhere to norms of All India Council of Technical Education fixing certain built up area on the campuses, having qualified teaching faculty, well equipped laboratories and libraries and availability of computers.
He also said that criminal cases were booked on managements of 16 colleges for furnishing false information to the Government and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University about facilities on the campuses.
Answering the allegations of the Opposition, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the Government was not trying to shy away from fee reimbursement scheme as it cleared all dues till 2013-14 to the tune of Rs.1,587 crore and made arrangements to bear the burden of 16-lakh students who would require Rs. 2,500 crore in 2014-15.
The Opposition insisted that 80 colleges were on the verge of closure and asked the Government to explain how it would go to the aid of affected students and teachers. Congress leader T. Jeevan Reddy charged the Government of ignoring the direction of the Supreme Court to give the colleges opportunity to rectify deficiencies.
BJP floor leader K. Laxman said that the pathetic situation was a result of the Government leaving the responsibility of technical education to private sector.
