The Higher Education Department has clarified that its position before the Supreme Court on not sanctioning self-financing courses in aided colleges will not affect the continuation of the existing unaided programmes in such institutions.
In its response to a petition by the Kerala Arts and Science Unaided College Managements Association, the government informed the Supreme Court that its policy was not to sanction new self-financing courses in aided colleges. The counsel for the government had stated that Bachelor of Vocational Courses have been sanctioned in aided colleges as per the University Grants Commission guidelines, but the government policy was that no self-financing courses would be sanctioned in aided colleges.
On whether the government’s stance would affect the existing self-financing programmes in aided colleges, Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu told The Hindu that the government had only stated its policy on not sanctioning new self-financing courses in aided colleges before the apex court. “We have not said that the existing self-financing programmes should be discontinued,” she said.
NOC renewal
The government issues no-objection certificates (NOC) for the unaided programmes based on an undertaking by the higher educational institution concerned that it would abide by the norms and regulations prescribed by the authorities. It is renewed every year based on the applications submitted by the institutions. The universities concerned appoint inspection commission comprising members of the Syndicate to check the academic and infrastructure facilities on the campus. The colleges get provisional affiliation for the unaided courses in every academic year.
The association of the managements of unaided colleges had approached the Supreme Court against a Kerala High Court order in September 2014 that upheld the decision of the then government and the universities to allow unaided courses in aided colleges in the State. The Division Bench of the High Court had stated that there was no statutory restriction on the power of the universities and the State government to sanction new courses in unaided stream in an existing college. The association had contended that the interest of students undergoing aided courses in the aided sector would be in peril, if the infrastructural and instructional facilities were shared by students enrolled in self-financing courses.
