The Supreme Court has upheld A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU)’s stance that it held the power to determine the criteria for granting affiliation for courses in engineering colleges in the State.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian on Thursday set aside a judgement of the Kerala High Court division bench that had ruled in favour of nearly 20 self-financing colleges which challenged the KTU’s decision to deny permission to introduce new courses, despite being accorded sanction for the same by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The AICTE had granted permission to around 50 KTU-affiliated colleges to commence new courses this year. While the KTU granted affiliation to such courses in those colleges that already had at least one National Board of Accreditation (NBA)-accredited courses, the university proposed three criteria to decide the course of action in the case of others.
These included 50% success in university examinations, a grading of ‘good’ or above in academic auditing and an average of 50% student enrolment over the past three years. Only one college among the batch met the criteria, while around 20 colleges, which were denied affiliation, moved the High Court.
While a single bench had ruled in favour of KTU, the division bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court held that the colleges were eligible for affiliation on the basis of the AICTE norms. The university subsequently appealed against the judgment in the Supreme Court which has now allowed the same.
The apex court observed that the Syndicate, which had decided the criteria for granting affiliation, possessed the legal right under the University Act to set standards for affiliating courses. It was also noted that the applications for extension of approvals were processed by the AICTE online and merely on the basis of the self-disclosure made by the colleges in their applications. Extension of approval is granted if all infrastructure facilities that were prescribed by the AICTE were found to be available on paper.
The court added that the university had the responsibility to assess infrastructure facilities of the colleges to ensure that students receive quality education. While universities cannot dilute the standards prescribed by the AICTE, they certainly have the power to stipulate enhanced norms and standards, the judgement stated.
