It is alleged that the State Government has increased the intake capacity of various Government engineering colleges in the State without approval of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA), a body of self-finance private engineering and MCA colleges, has alleged that the Government has increased as many as 2,329 seats, 1,550 in BTech and 779 in MTech, in the Government colleges for the year 2016-17 without AICTE approval.
“Students getting admitted against the unapproved seats in the Government engineering colleges will face difficulty in getting GATE scholarship and while appearing for UPSC and OPSC examinations and for pursuing higher education,” said OPECA secretary Binod Dash at a Press meet here on Friday.
Being lawmakers themselves, the Government is flouting the legal norms and playing with careers of the students, he added. Citing examples, he said the CET, Bhubaneswar has the highest 350 number of unapproved seats for BTech courses followed by the IGIT Sarang and the Parala Maharaj Engineering College, Brahmapur with 330 and 300 unapproved seats, respectively. For MTech courses, while the CET, Bhubaneswar has 67 AICTE-approved seats, the OJEE website displays 288 seats, an increase of 221 excess seats. The IGIT Sarang has increased 216 seats for MTech courses without AICTE approval.
Dash further said that as per the CAG Report-2015 on the Employment, Technical Education and Training Department, most of the engineering colleges in the State do not have the required infrastructures like building, lab, library, etc. “Even, there is a 51-per cent vacancy in the faculty for Mtech and a 49-per cent vacancy for BTech as per the AICTE norms,” Dash added.
The OPECA demanded that the Government immediately stop taking admission of students in the excess seats until approval of the AICTE. It also warned that it would take legal help if the demand is not fulfilled at the earliest.