Engineering colleges furious at JNTU-H
HYDERABAD: The 174 private engineering colleges, which have been barred from conducting admissions by the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad, are furious with the university for slapping police cases on several of them for alleged irregularities in academics and faculty recruitment.
Goutam Rao, a member of Telangana Engineering and Professional College Managements Association, told Express that the managements of the engineering colleges concerned would meet education minister G Jagadish Reddy and seek his support. He said the colleges had not received any advance intimation from JNTU officials about the impending police raids.
'They informed the colleges just one hour before the raids. Moreover, the university has the right to take any action against colleges and there is no need to file a police case on academic issues. Irregularities in the academic matters can be found everywhere and involving the police is not appropriate,' he said.
However, JNTU officials said the inspection teams had found that same faculty members were shown working in multiple colleges and the colleges did it only to misguide the inspection teams. The officials defended the police cases and termed them appropriate. Police cases have been registered against five engineering colleges in the state for cheating.
While the JNTU and engineering colleges are up in arms against each other over the issue, students are becoming the ultimate victims of the conflict. 'We are unable to focus on our studies because of the controversies. Even our placements are in a dilemma now. Why should we suffer for the fault of the managements?' asked Sudheer Reddy, a fourth-year B.Tech student of one of the 174 disqualified engineering colleges.
As the enrolment in B.Tech courses has already witnessed a sharp decline over the past few years, experts feel that the current controversies might further impact the admissions in the coming academic year.
Even officials of the AP State Council of Higher Education admit that many students from Telangana and AP had moved to other states in 2014 for engineering study.
Over 15,000 seats remained vacant in the current academic year in Telangana.
News Posted: 13 January, 2015
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