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Affiliation by AICTE draws flak

Special Correspondent

"Opinion of the State must be sought before affiliating technical institutes"

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to oppose unilateral affiliation granted to technical institutes in the State by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). A protest letter will be sent soon to the Union Government in this regard.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the State Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav here on Monday.

The State Government has taken strong exception to amendment in the rules in May 2006 which armed the AICTE with powers to grant affiliation to technical institutions without concurrence of the State. The Cabinet expressed concern at "the lopsided amendment".

Briefing newspersons, Chief Secretary N. C. Bajpai said the Cabinet felt that the change was against the spirit of the federal structure and the opinion of the State Government must be sought before affiliating the technical institutes.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet placed a bar on the number of technical institutes in a district. Mr. Bajpai said that following the decision only four institutions could be opened in a district. "This has been done to remove regional disparity," he said.

Following another decision of the Cabinet, zila panchayat members and block pramukhs have also been allowed now to select one and two villages each, respectively of their choice, and in their area, for development under Samagr Gram Vikas Yojana. Earlier, this facility was available to MLAs and MLCs, for whom the number of villages was 10.

The Chief Secretary said a total of 4,270 villages -- 2,630 of the zila panchayat members and 1,640 of block pramukhs -- would be included in the Yojana, which has 15 developmental heads.

The Cabinet further granted approval to the proposal of the Social Welfare Department for throwing open ashram-type schools to orphans and destitute children belonging to the Other Backward Classes and General categories. Till now the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes children were admitted to these schools.

While 60 per cent of the seats would be reserved for SC and ST children, the remaining 40 per cent would be divided into 25 per cent for OBCs and 15 per cent for the General category.

Mr. Bajpai said there are 38 ashram-type schools in the State and 16 schools for girls were under construction.

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