Colleges get NOC after AICTE deadline over

AICTE rules require both state and the affiliating university to issue NOCs for closure of courses.

The Telangana government is issuing no objection certificates to colleges for reduction of intake and closure of courses, long after the AICTE’s last date for applications ended.

The JNTU Hyderabad has called for another meeting with college managements to discuss the same issue. Colleges can still reduce their intake or close down for the upcoming academic year if the affiliated university agrees to do so.

The series of developments has left engineering colleges baffled considering there is lack of direction at the government level.

The AICTE had invited applications from engineering colleges under Chapter 2 for closure of courses and reduction in intake. Nearly 200 colleges in TS had applied but not one application was accepted because the state government didn’t issue NOCs before the deadline.

AICTE rules require both state government and the affiliating university to issue NOCs for closure of courses.

However, colleges are now receiving NOCs, long after the AICTE deadline passed.

“The government machinery is very slow. Their processing is so slow that the NOCs are being received now,” an engineering college owner said. This is particularly surprising since the government is keen on matching the number of seats with the number of aspirants.

But now, the JNTU-H has called a meeting of college managements to discuss the issue. A meeting is to be held on Friday via video conferencing but college managements are wary about this too.

“We want to meet JNTU-H officials in person and discuss the issue but they are not ready to meet. They only want to hold video conferences,” another engineering college owner said.