ERRANT MANAGEMENTS Advocates to inspect tech colleges

Till date, only academicians like retired and present VCs, apart from professors, were deputed.

Apart from academicians, from this year advocates and civil engineers will also be part of All-India Council for Technical Education’s inspection committees that will grant approvals for engineering colleges.

Till date, only academicians like retired and present vice-chancellors, apart from professors, were deputed by AICTE for inspections. The need for professionals from other fields was felt as thousands of college managements had submitted fake land deeds, fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) and had violated norms pertaining to faculty and infrastructure over the last 10 years and the academicians on the inspection committees had failed to detect such irregularities during inspections citing “lack of knowledge” in legal and construction fields.

Thus the AICTE has decided to nominate advocates and civil engineers in every inspection committee from this year. While the advocates will verify the documents and assess their “legal validity”, the civil engineers will inspect the buildings to assess whether they comply with the AICTE norms on built-up area pertaining to classrooms, libraries, staff rooms etc.

“The legal and construction issues would be dealt by advocates and civil engineers. The academicians will focus solely on faculty and other academic requirements. We hope the new composition of the committee will be comprehensive to deal with the inspection job effectively,” said Prof S.S.
Mantha, chairman, AICTE.

Source : DC