The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Colleges play safe with management quota

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Monday, Jul 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Colleges play safe with management quota

Officials allege colleges deliberately put notifications on obscure pages of newspapers
Managements of colleges say they go by the law, even give lists to authorities concerned

HYDERABAD: Admissions into the management quota of engineering colleges has officially begun, though on a smaller scale and on a different note, with colleges choosing to place their notifications, for the time being, on their individual websites rather than in newspapers.

As per the G.O. 53 that guides admission under management quota, colleges can give notifications individually but transparency has to be maintained. The colleges need to advertise in at least three prominent English, Telugu and Urdu newspapers. Since there are no clear guidelines when the colleges should seek applications through the popular media, they are choosing the easy but legally correct option of their college websites. How many students can visit the websites and check, is the question here.

As some parents allege, it is an idea of being on the correct side of the law and at the same time not reaching the candidates intending to use the opportunity. “They will give notifications in newspapers on a not-so-prominent page making it difficult to track,” feels Narender Reddy, a parent and an engineer with a private firm. Is it possible to track the advertisements of 300-odd colleges that are likely to admit under the management quota? Officials also admit that it will lead to a situation where information will not reach deserving students but instead to candidates to whom the colleges prefer to “give” admission and to those who are willing to pay more money than the prescribed fee of around Rs. 90,000. But the managements of private colleges reject these allegations. A representative of the Private Colleges Managements’ Association argues that as per the law, they issue notifications in newspapers apart from keeping the information on their websites and the college notice boards. “We will also present the list to the concerned authorities,” he says.

Moving the courts

The G.O. 61, issued in May this year, makes it mandatory for professional colleges to keep the information on seats available in each discipline and other details on their notice boards and websites. Meanwhile, parents who have already “booked” seats are still in a state of confusion. Seats were booked in advance in the range of Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 14 lakh. A positive aspect in the entire process, however, is that students can at least move the courts if applications are not given to them.

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Andhra Pradesh